


Earth's Weaknesses: Part Four

by WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter



Series: Earth's Weaknesses: The 100 [4]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Epic Friendship, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gunshot Wounds, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Original Female Character, Slow Burn, The 100 (TV) Season 4, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, all of them - Freeform, as a treat, badass as all hell, if you're still reading the tags at this point I worry for your sanity, im all in my feels, jasper jordan deserves better, murphy x oc BROTP, no i will make you suffer more, series seven is coming and i cannot handle it, she just does okay, still basically a slow burn of bellamy blake x oc, thats just how she rolls, which ship you ask?, why does alyssa have so many knives?, will they get together yet?, you can have a smidge of romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24184060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter/pseuds/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter
Summary: Part 4 of 7Set during season 4 of the 100. A.L.I.E is gone, we can celebrate, right? WRONG. Unfortunately these guys just can't catch a break, and now they have to figure out how to survive the nuclear apocalypse. AGAIN.
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Alyssa Jones & John Murphy, Bellamy Blake/Alyssa Jones, Bellamy Blake/Original Female Character(s), Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Monty Green/Harper McIntyre, Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Series: Earth's Weaknesses: The 100 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722190
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. Echoes

We climbed down not without difficulty, considering we blew the elevator _and_ the ladder running alongside it _and_ the staircases. Somehow, we managed. Bellamy watched his sister from a distance, unsure of what to do. I put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, “She’ll be okay. It’s Octavia, she can take care of herself.” 

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he shook his head. 

Clarke’s brow furrowed, “She won’t be charged. Everyone will say that Pike had it coming.” 

“Maybe we all do,” he replied. 

She looked around, taking in the sight of people mourning the dead combined with reuniting with loved ones who had probably tried to kill them at least once during the past week. “How do we tell these people that the world is ending after everything they’ve been through?” 

“We don’t,” I sighed. 

Bellamy nodded, “Not until we know A.L.I.E was telling you the truth.” 

“It was the truth,” Clarke objected. 

“Still, keep it to yourself until we know what we’re dealing with and how to stop it…” he trailed off, his voice growing quiet before he muttered “Damn…” 

She frowned at him, “You’re afraid of how people will react.” 

“Yes. Besides,” he smiled, “I could do with a break from keeping you alive,” he joked. “Anyway, you just gave them back their pain. Let’s not add to it by telling them they’re gonna die in six months.” 

“I agree, we need to figure out at least part of a plan first, or it’s not fair to them,” I nodded. 

“Once everyone’s down, we go home and we get to work. We didn’t survive this long just to let a little radiation take us out,” he added. 

Clarke smiled, “Thank you, for keeping me alive.”

A woman cried out and Clarke ran over to her, kneeling down next to her as she frantically tried to wake up her dead husband. Bellamy sighed before jogging after her and muttering, “You don’t make it easy.” 

The man was clearly dead, but he didn’t appear to have any physical injuries. “He didn’t fall,” I noticed. 

“He chased me in the City of Light,” Clarke realised. “Lexa killed him.” 

Someone spoke up, _“Wanheda. You did this,”_ and people began to gather around to point and stare at her. I sighed, resisting the urge to shout back in trig something along the lines of ‘she just saved all your asses’ because although that was true, it was only partially true for the time being. 

“Wanheda,” they echoed angrily, and I was finally able to put together properly what the dark stares and quiet murmurs meant. _They blamed us for what happened here._

“Good, you're down,” Clarke nodded to Abby as she arrived. “We need to go. The rover’s in the north woods.” 

“What about the wounded?” Abby frowned. 

Bellamy shook his head, “The Grounders don’t want our help. Our people we’ll treat at Arkadia.” 

Static crackled through the radio as after a long while it finally spluttered into life, Raven’s voice breaking through it, “Hello? Bellamy, please come in.” 

“Raven, you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re all in one piece,” she replied. 

“Good, there’s something we need you to look into,” Bellamy told her. 

Raven snapped back, “First tell me how my friends are. Did everyone make it? Clarke?”

She nodded at Bellamy and took the radio, speaking into it. “I’m here, thanks to you. Raven, did A.L.I.E ever tell you why she created the city of light?” 

“No, why?”

 _“The king! He’s alive! We need a healer!”_ Someone shouted in trig and Clarke rushed towards them, only pausing to hand Bellamy back the radio. 

“Fill them in,” she told him, running towards the sound and grabbing her mother, “They need a doctor!” 

Bellamy began speaking to Raven through the walkie, but I followed Clarke to Roan’s side. One of the Azgeda warriors pulled Clarke away from him, “We have our own healers,” and the woman looked oddly familiar. 

That’s when it hit me.

“You!” I snapped, pointing at her. Confusion filled Clarke’s face and I was forced to explain, “That’s the girl who tricked us into leaving Mount Weather. She’s the reason we couldn’t stop the place from blowing up, because we were on a wild goose chase with her.” 

I walked towards the girl as she held her sword to Clarke’s throat, and before I knew it Bellamy was by my side, only being held back by Kane. “Let her go, Echo,” he snapped as he fought Kane to get closer to her. “Let her go!”

“Back off, Bellamy,” Echo replied.

“Your king is my friend, let us help him,” Clarke pleaded. 

Echo looked at her, “I saw you in the City of Light. I know you destroyed it. Thank you for that,” she moved her sword and pushed Clarke forwards into Bellamy, who caught her effortlessly. “Look around you,” Echo called to her people. “Skaikru did this to us.” 

“Actually, we didn’t?” I rolled my eyes. “You were all chipped, you did this yourselves.”

“Because of them,” Echo continued, “Ontari, your rightful Commander, is dead. This imposter stole her flame.” 

“No,” Kane stepped forwards. “Wanheda saved us. All of us— Grounder and Skaikru.” 

“There would have been nothing to save us from, if not for you,” she retorted. 

Kane shook his head, “Azgeda has no authority here.” 

“We do now. In the name of King Roan as rightful caretakers of the Azgeda Commander, Polis is now under Azgeda rule,” she announced. 

“Like hell it is,” another Grounder stepped forwards, flanked by two of her soldiers. “Where’s your war chief, girl?” 

“Our war chief is dead, Ambassador,” Echo replied. “As a member of the queen’s guard, commanding of the army has fallen to me until the king awakens.” 

“If he awakens,” the Ambassador snapped back, before raising her voice to address all of us. “Until a new Commander can ascend, Polis is to be ruled by Ambassadors of the Coalition. If Azgeda wants it, they must take it by force.” 

In a swift movement, Echo’s sword flashed forwards, slashing the Ambassador’s throat. The crowd watched as she reached up, unable to stem the blood flowing from between her fingers before slumping to the ground dead. “Consider it taken,” Echo snarled. “No Skaikru leaves this city.” She chanted, _“For Ice Nation!”_ and it was repeated by the rest of her army. 

I sighed, leaning over to Clarke. “Looks like saving the world’s gonna have to take a backseat for now.” 

The crowd slowly began to depart, each person going in a different direction to either help with the dead, the wounded, or to fire insults at some of the living in disgust. I groaned, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand and looking around. Over the other side of the courtyard, behind a large stone pillar, I could partially see Murphy squatting on the ground next to another girl. _Emori._

I began to make my way over and soon I was close enough to hear their conversation. “How many times have they cast you out?” She asked him. 

“It’s different now, they owe me. Please, come on,” he tapped her arm. 

She sighed, “Ok.” 

“Ok?” 

“Ok,” she said more firmly as I rounded the pillar and leant against it. 

I smiled at them, “Hey. Emori, right? I had to make sure he wasn’t making you up.” 

Murphy scowled at me, but it was half-hearted and he was fighting the smile on his face. “Shut up, Lyss.” 

Raising my hands in surrender, I laughed. “Easy, it’s a joke. Nice to see you happy.” I held out a hand to Emori, “I’m Alyssa.”

She shook it, “You already know my name, so I don’t need to say it. How do you know John?”

“I was on the first ship down here, we were on it together,” I explained with a shrug. “Your boyfriend was a bit of an ass at first, but he’s growing on me. I’ll do what I can to make sure you guys can stay at Arkadia, if that’s what you want.” 

“You got an angle, Lyss?” Murphy raised an eyebrow curiously.

I laughed, “No angle. Besides, last time I let you leave that place, you and Jaha were searching for the City of Light and we all know how _that_ turned out. Although Emori seems cool, so I guess good came out of it anyway. I’m going to make sure no one’s doing anything stupid.” I raised my hand in a mock salute before walking away, “Later.”

Emori nodded as I walked away, “She seems cool.” 

“She’s annoying,” Murphy rolled his eyes, but when I turned back he was smiling. 

I walked into the temple where I knew Clarke was, meeting Bellamy, Octavia, and Indra when I got to the doors. Octavia pushed them open and Indra walked in first, coming face to face with Kane before pulling him into a hug— something I hadn’t expected. Clarke turned to Bellamy, waiting.

“Well?” she asked. 

“You’re not going to like it,” he replied. 

Indra turned around, releasing Kane from the hug so that she could explain. “When you destroyed the City of Light there were a thousand Azgeda warriors inside the city of Polis.” 

“Good timing,” Octavia deadpanned. 

“The only way to remove them is by force,” Indra finished. 

Octavia rolled her eyes, “Then let’s remove them.” 

“Slow down,” Abby stepped in. “You’re talking about a war.” 

“Yes,” Indra nodded. “Rockline, Floukru and Broadleaf will join Trikru without question, but we’ll still be short.” 

Abby’s voice dropped to a whisper, “This is madness. We should be leaving with the others while we still have time.” 

“They know where we live,” Kane answered. “If we leave, they will follow. There are eight other clans. How do we get them to join us?” 

Indra turned to Clarke, “I can do it, but I’ll need the flame.” 

“No,” she shook her head.

Bellamy tried to reason with her. “Clarke, the clans will follow whoever has the flame.” 

“Azgeda won’t,” I cut in. 

“Then we fight,” Octavia finished. “That’s the point.” 

Clarke stood her ground, “No, it’s not. The point is there’s no time for a fight. We have to save Roan.” 

“Save him? They won’t let us near him,” Octavia said incredulously. 

Abby paused, watching her daughter’s face and thinking, “Wait a second. What don’t we know?” _Damn, she’s good_ , I thought. Then again, Clarke _is_ her daughter, so she knows her pretty well. 

“The reason A.L.I.E created the City of Light,” Clarke swallowed.

Kane shot her a concerned glance, “Why?” 

Clarke hesitated, looking to Bellamy who nodded in approval. “Nuclear reactors inside power plants that survived the bombs are melting down. Radiation levels are already rising. If we can’t figure out a way to fix it, all of us will be dead in six months.” 

“A.L.I.E told you this?” Kane asked. 

“And you believe her?” Abby gasped. 

Clarke nodded, “I believe her.” 

“Raven’s looking into it,” I added. 

“Even if that’s true… it’s six months away. There are a thousand Ice Nation warriors on the street who want to kill us today,” protested Indra calmly. 

“They won’t kill us,” Clarke said adamantly. 

Octavia turned to her, shocked. “How do you know that?” 

“Because we’re gonna surrender,” she finished, causing the whole room to look at her. 

I didn’t say it out loud, but _Clarke, what the fuck?_

~

Bellamy and I were on the top floor of one of the Polis buildings, guns aimed at Echo as she came into the centre of the courtyard, throwing Jaha to the ground and making me pray that Clarke’s plan worked. I aimed my gun out the window, keeping my breathing steady so that the gun stayed in place. After it got dark, and Jaha revealed that Echo would only converse with Bellamy, he made his way downstairs to confirm the plan with Indra and Kane while I spotted from above. I adjusted my position as Bellamy emerged, making his way into the lion's den. 

Their voices were low and it was almost too dark to read their lips, and I kept my eyes trained on them as they talked.

Echo laughed loudly, “No one wants war! Lay down your guns, and we’ll get your children live.” 

I scoffed, “Bold words for the person currently declaring war on us.” 

Bellamy said something, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Echo began to turn away but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back and it caused every Azgeda soldier to raise their weapons in his direction. _Dammit, Bellamy!_ I cursed, taking a mental note of exactly how many people had their bows drawn and swords raised towards him. 

Echo pushed him back, grabbing the arm that held hers and twisted it before pushing him flat to the floor and leaning over him, her blade pressed against his neck. “Guns on the ground or he dies!” She shouted. 

I couldn’t see Kane, but I could hear him as he ordered everyone’s weapons down. Echo dragged Bellamy to his feet, her sword still against his throat as she marched with her other soldiers towards the temple. _No. no. no. no._ I pulled my gun out of the window, tightening the strap around my shoulder as I rushed down the stairs, ignoring the jolts of pain that went up my leg every time I purposefully missed a step. 

I skidded to a halt close to the temple, slowing down so that they wouldn’t hear me coming. I pressed my back against the wall and shuffled along slowly, trying to listen to what they were saying. Without much luck, I decided to reveal myself, but it was all too late as the guards closest to the door turned back around and began to leave. 

To find me standing in the way with my gun raised. 

Bellamy’s eyes widened in surprise, in a thought recognised to be _‘what the hell are you doing here?’_ but they soon returned to normal, providing me with an expression I was all too familiar with: _‘I should’ve seen this coming’._

With my people skills below subpar, the most I could manage was finger guns and a “So, how are things?” in the least casual and most cringey way possible, before one of the Azgeda guards grabbed me by the hair and kneed me in the abdomen, binding my wrists as I doubled over in pain. Behind us, Clarke, Abby, and Octavia were also restrained and we were led to the holding cell and shackled to the walls. I sighed, “Admittedly, that could’ve gone better.” 

The first free moment in days, I leant against the wall and took a breath. 

“Hey,” Bellamy sighed, rubbing the shackles around his wrists. 

“Hey yourself,” I yawned back, taking him in. “God, you look a state.” 

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” He frowned, reaching out and pulling a piece of glass out of my hair and holding it up to the light. “How? Why? _Every_ time?” 

I shrugged, “I think someone tried to bash my head in with a mirror yesterday. I don’t think it worked.” 

“I never would’ve guessed,” Bellamy deadpanned, gently removing another piece and flicking it out the window. 

Before I could reply, the holding cell doors creaked open and Echo and her soldiers returned, “Wanheda. On your feet,” one of them ordered. Clarke stood up, looking around and quickly wiping the tears that betrayed her calm exterior. 

“Where’s the king?” She asked as they unlocked her cuffs. “I need to see Roan.” 

She received no explanation, and a rag was thrown over her head as she tried to wrestle free and they began to lead her out of the cell. “Where are you taking her?” I shouted, pulling against the chains to get myself closer to the soldiers. 

“Echo! Echo listen to me!” Bellamy tried to get her attention but she refused to acknowledge him, briefly letting one of the other soldiers throw him to the ground to get him out of the way of the door as it closed. “Echo!” he called after her, straining against the shackles. 

“It’s no use,” I groaned. “She won’t listen. We have to get out of here.” 

And we did. Half an hour later when Echo reluctantly let us go. The soldiers led us back outside and we were all relieved to see Clarke, considering it looked like Roan was going to kill her. The fact that she wasn’t restrained either was a good sign. 

“What happened?” Kane asked her. 

“Roan’s about to address his people, it should explain everything,” she turned and walked back out into the crowd gathering in the courtyard, blending in with the people that arrived. Bellamy and I stood next to her, with her mother and Kane on the other side. 

Roan stood up, an interesting-looking crown on his head, as he faced his subjects. “I know you’ve all come here for an execution, but no one else will die here today. The City of Light has fallen and there is no Commander left to rule us. Until another nightblood ascends, I, King Roan of Azgeda, eldest son of Nia, Grandson of Theo, am caretaker of the throne and keeper of the flame.” 

I shot Clarke a puzzled look, “You gave him the flame?”

“It was either that, or he killed us all.” 

“Fair point.” 

“Until another ascends,” Roan continued, “Azgeda honours and will defend the coalition of the last true Commander, Lexa kom Trikru, including the thirteenth clan. Let it be known that an attack against Skaikru is an attack against us all.” 

My eyebrows shot up, “Damn. That went surprisingly well for us. Thanks, Clarke.” 

“We’re safe, from Azgeda at least. But we need to get back to Arkadia to start planning for the Praimfaya,” she nodded.


	2. Did We Blow Our Only Chance At Survival? (Pun Intended)

“We’ve been at this for two days,” Bellamy paced up and down the room frustratedly. “There must be something we’re not thinking of.” 

I sighed, “What if we could get to one of the reactors? They have a coolant, right? Surely we just need to make it kick back in somehow?” God, I wish I had paid more attention in the renewable energy module of geography and science. 

“There’s no magic button to turn them on, they’ve been self-sustaining for too long this is almost unavoidable. We’d need a large amount of water to cool them down, and there’s no way we’d be able to transport it even if we _could_ get near— which we can’t, because the radiation would kill us— there’s a large chance that it wouldn’t work anyway.” Raven shot down each and every one of our ideas, making the group more frustrated than ever. “Today this isn’t black rain, but it will be soon. That’s why we have to focus on riding out the radiation, find someplace safe and big enough to hold all five hundred of us.” 

Clarke groaned, “This isn’t just about saving us. I made a promise to Roan, it’s about saving everyone.”

“And that’s why we need to _tell_ everyone,” Raven protested. “Crowdsource it. If there’s another Mount Weather out there, the Grounders will know about it.” 

Bellamy leant his head against the wall, having stopped pacing for the first time in four hours. “And you think they’re going to tell us? Just like that? If we tell everybody they’re going to die, the Coalition is over, Roan falls, and the Grounders will be at our gate.”

“Then just tell our people,” she suggested. “We need more minds on this problem. On the Ark, people volunteered for the culling because they were told the truth and given a choice…” Raven turned to Clarke. “A choice your dad died for.”

Clarke immediately jumped on the offensive, “You think I’ve forgotten that?”

“Okay,” Bellamy tried to diffuse the situation. “We’ll tell everybody the truth as soon as we have a viable solution. Without one, it’ll start a panic.”

“Oh to think back to the days before Azgeda blew up our only chance at survival,” I said wistfully. “And now everyone, including them, expects us to save their asses. _As per usual._ ” A thought occurred to me. “Maybe we don’t need one big bunker. Maybe we just need a bunch of little ones?”

“Where are we going to find a dozen small bunkers on such short notice? Bunkers R Us? We Buy Any Bunker.com?” Monty suggested, making a vague gesture with his hand that told me he was a tad too tired for this shit. Harper put her hand over his reassuringly and I remembered in the two days we’d been back, I hadn’t breached that subject with him yet. 

I shot him a glance, mouthing “You two?”

He replied, “Yeah.” 

Nodding in approval, I mouthed back, “ _Nice._ ” 

They were cute together. Too bad the whole apocalypse thing means that if we don’t get our shit together and save everyone’s asses… they might not be able to be cute together for long. I watched them together, simply enjoying each other’s company as we discussed the fate of humanity— which was in our hands, _again_ — and silently supporting each other. I noticed as Monty’s eyes slowly moved towards the rain dripping through the ceiling, his face twisting into that look he got when he was thinking, and it was either a bloody brilliant or completely terrible idea that was either going to save everyone or kill us all. With Monty, it could really go either way. I mean, how the hell do you think his moonshine recipe got perfected?

“That’s it!” He jumped to his feet, pushing back the table he had been half-sitting, half-leaning against. “Think. Alpha Station survived for ninety-seven years in space through elevated radiation levels and extreme temperature fluctuations. Sound familiar? All we have to do is patch up the ship. We’re standing in our viable solution.” 

So it appeared that his brilliant make or break idea was going to save us all. “Monty strikes again!” I cheered, air-high-fiving him from across the room. 

Maybe we were going to be okay after all. 

~

An hour later and we had worked out the most major kinks in the plan. The largest one being the fact that we needed the hydro-generator from Farm Station, slap bang in the middle of Ice Nation, or we wouldn’t be able to survive one year… let alone five. I made my way across the compound after stocking up on knives I’d stored in various places across Alpha Station. I had lost more than I’d like to admit at the fight with A.L.I.E’s chipped minions back in Polis. 

Luckily enough, whenever I see a knife, I grab it. There were hiding places all over this damn ship, and I was sitting in my own goldmine. I walked back from grabbing a knife out of one of the watchtowers and heard a familiar singing reach my ears. It was a long time since I’d heard Jasper sing. 

“The silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload, and nobody's gonna go to school today… She's going to make them stay at home!” he sang as he showered, using up more water out of our reserves than anyone was comfortable with. “Tell me why! I don’t like Mondays. Tell me why! I don’t like Mondays!”

Before I could say anything about his wonderful shower solo, Monty beat me to it and came up alongside him. “Nice cap,” he remarked. “You know you’re wasting our drinking water, right?” 

“You know we’re all gonna die in six months, right?” Jasper joked back and I rolled my eyes. 

“Gotta love that optimism,” I laughed. “Real way to live.” 

Monty grinned, “Not if we find what we’re looking for today.” 

“Oh, please. Tell me about another pointless task that Clarke has roped you into. Or better yet… don’t. I don’t want to keep any more of her secrets.” 

“We’re going back to Farm Station,” I told him. “You should come.” 

“Guys. Guys. _Guys._ Look at me,” he did a little spin for us. 

I took a step back, shaking my head as Monty replied, “I’m really trying not to.” 

“Ditto,” I answered. 

“I’m fine, all right? I’m having fun. You should try it sometime,” he winked at me. 

I rolled my eyes, “Monty, I’m gonna grab some more supplies. I’ll see you in ten when we leave. Jasper…” I was at a loss for words. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Your somewhat cynical optimism is somehow helping morale around here. I don’t know why, but it is. Later.” I gave them a mock-salute before leaving, 

The others were already in the garage and I helped them store some of the weapons in the rover. Bryan was back on his feet and I was impressed at his speedy recovery. “You good?” I asked, sparing a look to his leg.

“I will be. Once we get that hydro-generator,” he smiled. 

“Well if you’re in pain or anything… I’ve got your back. Bullet wounds fucking _suck_ ,” I laughed, patting my own leg lightly. 

Bryan grinned, “Back at you.”

“Battery’s full,” Bellamy notified us. “If we’re lucky, we won’t have to stop to recharge.” 

“Even luckier if Roan’s seal will work the way it’s supposed to,” Clarke unwrapped the present that Echo had been forced by Roan to give to us before we left Polis. “If you get in trouble, just show this.” 

“Got it,” Bellamy nodded, “Thanks. Load up. You can still come with us?” 

Clarke shook her head, “No. I can’t. Arkadia is just Plan B, it doesn’t help the Grounders. I’m not stopping until we have a solution that saved everyone.”

“We save who we can save today,” he told her, packing the things into the rover. 

She caught me before I could climb inside. “Watch his back?”

“Always,” I laughed. “We got this. We’ll worry about this, you find another solution to our little radiation problem. We’ll be okay,” I reassured her. 

“Be careful, don’t die,” she whispered.

“Hey!” I reeled back with mock-offense, “That’s _my_ thing!” Before laughing and pulling her in for a quick goodbye hug. “We got this,” I reassured her again. 

~

I jumped down from the rover and winced, remembering that it probably wasn’t a good idea to do that. As far as I could see there were mountains stretching into the distance, covered in a gentle dusting of snow. It would have been beautiful if we weren’t in Ice Nation territory and could die at any moment. _Real cheerful, Alyssa._

Farm Station stuck out like a sore thumb, its jagged metal a complete contrast to the almost peaceful surroundings. _Almost_ peaceful. I took a few steps towards the hill and raised my binoculars, beginning to frown, “Guys? We have a problem.” 

Miller nodded as he began to speak, completely cutting off Bellamy’s instructions. “The barn isn’t empty.” 

We dropped down, raising our weapons to scope it out. There were two Azgeda soldiers positioned at the door. “They’ve moved in,” Bryan whispered. “If it’s the same guys who attacked us, with our guns we could take them.”

“I’m sure we could, but we didn’t come here to fight,” Bellamy warned him. 

Bryan’s face took on a look of disgust as he practically spat, “They butchered us, killed _kids_ , our friends, our families.” His eyes strayed over to Monty who was forced to reply.

“I don’t like it any more than you do, but Bellamy’s right. We need that machine.”

“Uhh… guys?” Harper drew our attention over to her, where she was kneeling completely still with an arrowhead resting against her back as the soldier behind her had his bow drawn. We shot to our feet, taking Bellamy’s order to put our weapons down and raising our hands in surrender, although it took some of us longer than others. 

“Bryan, _now_ ,” Bellamy prompted, and Bryan was forced to lower his gun rather reluctantly. Bellamy moved his hand towards the zip of his jacket, trying to access the inside pocket where he had stored Roan’s insignia. All weapons turned to him and he slowed his movements, “Ok. It’s just—” he switched to Trig. _“King Roan of Ice Nation sent us.”_

The leading soldier turned around, almost nodding at his small army before spinning back around quicker than any of us could have predicted and hitting Bellamy in the face, sending him to the floor. Before he had a chance to get up, the soldier was already binding his wrists and shouting orders to the rest of his troops, who descended on us, taking our weapons and binding our hands behind our backs in a similar way. 

I pulled on the restraints, testing them. Wasn’t rope… but it was still strong. No cuffs, no locks, so nothing to pick. If we were to break free in any way we’d need knives. Something which I am still in possession of. I was used to this kind of thing ‘take all their weapons’ they say, and proceed to grab the few poorly placed visible ones, rarely checking my sleeves or my boot. Usually, they’d take the handgun from my waistband and the bullets I had been carrying, maybe two or three knives, but they’d barely be scratching the surface of how many I would _actually_ be carrying. I had to admit, I’d gotten pretty good at this. 

They threw us down in front of their “Chief”, who held out the insignia that Roan had given us. “Where did you get this?” She asked in english. 

“King Roan,” Bellamy tried to explain, “Skaikru and Azgeda are allies. He sent us to get a part of the ship, a machine.”

 _“‘King’ Roan hasn’t returned to Ice Nation in three years. The banished prince is not my king,”_ spat the chief. 

_Well then, that went about as well as expected._ One of the chief’s soldiers pulled out a curved sword and it annoyed me how satisfying the noise was as it left the sheath. 

“Look,” Bellamy tried to reason with them, “If we’d come to take this place back, there’d be a lot more of us and you know that.”

The leading soldier from before whispered something to the chief in Trig, too quietly for me to understand. He reached for his dagger and I tensed as he moved towards Bellamy, but it was only to slice through the restraints around his wrists, releasing him. _“Release them,”_ he told his soldiers about the rest of us, and they somewhat reluctantly complied and removed the ties, hauling us to our feet. “Where is this machine for the king?” 

We were to walk along the corridors of Farm Station flanked by the chief’s guards until we found what we were looking for. I was surprised to note that the electricity was on and that the brilliant white lights didn’t even flicker overhead, providing us with a much-needed source of light. Monty frowned, “Ever met a Grounder who can power up a spaceship?” but he got nudged along for it by one of the guards, telling him to be quiet. 

They hesitated in front of one of the doors, looking to the chief for permission to open it. Reluctantly, she complied, and as the leading soldier marched in he called out an order to all those inside. _“Slaves! Eyes down!”_ before turning back to us, “Do what you came here to do.”

I was horrified, to say the least. There were dozens of Grounders stuck here as prisoners, dressed in old and ruined clothes as they worked for the resident Azgeda soldiers. My hand flew up to my mouth in shock as I looked around, trying to fight the urge to bury a knife in each and every one of the soldiers that had done this. I took a step forward towards a little girl but Bellamy grabbed my arm, mouthing a firm “No.” 

“Up there. The Generator,” Monty broke the silence and pointed up to the second floor. We were about to start climbing the stairs to get there when Bryan broke away from the group and rushed towards one of the prisoners in recognition. 

“Riley? Riley, we thought you were dead!” He grabbed him, studying his wounds including a large patch of bruises on the side of his face. 

The soldier stepped forwards and separated them. “Only the machine. The rest is ours.” Bryan nodded slowly and Bellamy led him up the stairs, keeping a firm grip on his wrist to make sure he didn’t try anything while we were still being watched. Once we got upstairs they left us be, letting us try and move the generator on our own and leaving us free to talk quietly. 

“I don’t care that we’re unarmed, we can’t just leave them here,” Bryan hissed. 

“We’re in the Coalition now, so we ask the King to free them,” suggested Harper. 

I scoffed, “First of all, who said anything about being unarmed?” I ignored Bellamy’s expected eye roll as I continued, “Second of all, they said it themselves, he isn’t their King.” 

“It’s our best bet,” Harper whispered. 

“Not if it means leaving Riley,” Bryan protested quietly. 

Bellamy sighed, “Ok, Harper’s right. We try diplomacy first. If that doesn’t work, we come back with reinforcements for the slaves after we take home the machine, right?” His words caused Bryan to nod slowly, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was more interested in the girl that walked past and dropped a piece of fabric on the floor next to us, which Bellamy quickly covered with his shoe before pretending to tie his laces as he picked it up and unfolded it. 

The note was short and got the point across quickly: “Moving us tomorrow. HELP.”

“They’re moving them,” Bellamy whispered. 

I sighed, “So we’re in agreement then? Something has to be done?” 

“It’s now or never,” Bryan nodded. 

“Are there any other exits in here?” Bellamy asked him. 

Bryan shook his head. “No, it’s completely sealed. We came down from space in this place because it’s the most secure room in the ship.”

“It’s designed that way,” Monty explained, “In case the Hydrazine blew.” 

“What?” Harper asked, and her train of thought immediately caught on. 

I whistled quietly, “We have a bomb.”

“Wait a second,” Miller protested, “The end of the world is coming and you want to destroy the one thing that’ll keep our people alive?” 

“Not all of our people, Nate. What about Riley?” Bryan asked.

Miller shook his head, “I vote that we take it home.” 

“Oh, we’re voting?” I raised my eyebrows, “I vote to escape with the prisoners and blow this dump sky high while we’re doing it. Who’s in?”

“Blow it up,” Bryan nodded. 

Harper agreed, “I’m with them. I know what it’s like to be locked up and afraid. You didn’t leave us in Mount Weather. We shouldn’t leave them here.” 

“Can you build another machine?” Bellamy asked Monty and received a furious shaking of the head in response so much so that I thought it might fall off. 

“No way,” Monty said firmly, “The tech’s too advanced.” 

“We have six months,” Bellamy pleaded. “We have _Raven._ Are you telling me she can’t figure out another way to make water?” 

“Look, I know you want to make up for the things you’ve done. Believe me, we all do— but we need to think of the big picture— twenty-five people instead of five hundred. We’re talking about the human race, Bellamy,” Monty pressed. 

I scoffed, “Sacrifice the few to save the many, isn’t that what Jaha was always about? Isn’t that why the culling happened on the Ark? Keep going like that, and the few _become_ the many and we _all_ die.”

“We need to get this machine back to Arkadia or we’re all dead anyway,” he shook his head. 

“What if I can create a distraction?” I suggested. 

Bellamy gave me one of his Knowing Looks™, “Lyss, killing them all is _not_ a valid distraction.” 

I shrugged, “Why not? I’d say they’d be pretty distracted.” 

“It is hard to be distracted when you’re dead,” Bryan backed me up. 

“And technically if we blew this thing up… that’s the same kind of distraction,” I added mischievously. “But it’s your call, Bellamy.” 

He sighed, looking over the railing at Riley down below before turning back to Monty and sighing, “How quickly can you turn this into a bomb?” 

“All I have to do is adjust this thing…” he tapped on the control panel, “And Bob’s your uncle.” 

“I never understood that phrase, who invented it and _why?_ ” I asked out loud, but Bellamy nudged me before my mind could go off on a tangent. “Got it. Focusing now. What’s the plan?” 

~

We began to lift the hydro-generator between the six of us and carry it through the door. It was a struggle getting it down the stairs but we managed without incident and the slaves looked at us in disappointment as the door closed behind us, having no idea of what we were planning. Miller’s hand slipped, just according to the plan, and the tank teetered dangerously to the side. 

“Watch it, Miller,” Bellamy warned, nodding at Monty. 

Monty put one of his hands up, “Wait. Wait. Wait. Just set it down here.” He knelt down next to it and began fiddling with the control panel, jumping back and screaming “NOW!” 

We rushed past before it could blow, running through into the area where the slaves were kept and shutting the door behind us, leaning against it breathlessly as the room shook and the bomb detonated outside. One of the guards left behind in the room rushed towards us and Bellamy and Miller tackled him, bringing him to the ground. He fought back and I raised a knife but Bryan called out at us, “Stop! This isn’t your kill. This is Monty’s kill.” 

Monty froze, “What are you talking about?” 

“This is the man that murdered your father,” he explained. 

Monty moved around and picked up the man’s weapon, raising it above his head. 

“You don’t have to do this,” Bellamy whispered. 

“Yeah. I do,” he replied, bringing the weapon up but instead using it to break the chains that were holding the prisoners in place. He turned to them as they pulled themselves free, letting them have at the man with everything they had. Monty looked away and winced with every cry that the man made, but didn’t say anything else. 

“Right,” Bellamy took charge, motioning to Miller to help him open the door again. “We’re leaving, _all of us_.” 

~

Back at Arkadia, the rover pulled up and we jumped out— yet again, a bad idea on my part— to help the others out and to lead them to medical. I held my hand out to support a girl as she climbed down and she smiled at me, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t mention it,” I shrugged. “Glad to help.” 

Bellamy helped Riley down and as Clarke came rushing out she pulled the boy into her arms, “Riley? Oh my god, you’re alive?” 

“I am now,” he whispered, wincing. 

I turned around to watch as Bellamy lifted a small girl out of the truck and onto the ground. She clung onto his leg and he put an arm around her protectively until Riley came back over to take her by the hand and lead her to medical. 

Raven rounded the corner, pleased to see us, but her face fell when she saw the empty truck. “Where is it?”

“We didn’t get the machine,” Bellamy revealed. 

“It didn’t survive landing?” Clarke frowned. 

I sighed, “It didn’t survive _us._ Blowing it up was the only way we were able to rescue these guys.”

“I had a choice,” Bellamy spoke slowly. “Bring the machine home, or use it to save them.”

Raven’s hands formed fists as she tried to steady her breathing, “We are _so_ screwed.” 

“We have time, but I am not sacrificing any more innocent lives,” he finished firmly. 

“You just did,” Clarke whispered. 

“I made the call, and I’ll live with that,” replied Bellamy. 

Raven sighed, “Yeah. You’re not the only one who has to live with your call, as usual.” 

“Do you want to tell them that? Do you want to go up to the people who we just brought home and tell them we should’ve left them to die? Tell _Riley_ we should’ve left them to die? There’s a difference between doing what you can to survive, and doing what you can to make sure you _deserve_ to survive. We couldn’t leave them there,” I snapped. 

Clarke turned to Raven, “How many of us will the ship sustain without a hydro-generator?” 

“No more than a hundred,” she replied. 

“What am I supposed to tell the people now?” Clarke wrung her hands. 

“The truth,” Raven answered. “Crowdsource it like we talked about.” 

Clarke nodded, “I’ll call for a general meeting.” 

“What are you gonna do?” I asked.

“Hope that there’s a forgiving God,” she replied, taking a deep breath before walking back into the station. 

I turned to Bellamy, “We made the right call.” 

“We save who we can save today,” he nodded, smiling weakly.


	3. From The Ashes, We Will Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'd like to mention that if they ARE in there, they're going to be very pissed. But I'm going to overrule that with the fact that this is an incredibly awesome way to make an entrance that I endorse 100%."

“So now you know the truth,” Clarke neared the end of her speech. “I know you’re afraid. I know you’re angry, but when I shut down A.L.I.E, I knew that there was a way for us to get through this together.” She spared a quick glance at us on the sidelines and I had the horrible feeling that she was about to deviate from the plan. I was right. “Alpha Station is that way.” 

Next to me, Raven’s entire body language changed as she folded her arms and changed her stance, instantly tensing up. She pursed her lips and sucked in a breath through gritted teeth as she fought the urge to do something stupid. I looked to my other side at Bellamy and could instantly tell he had a bad feeling about this. 

“Every single one of us will survive on this ship. It won’t be easy. Raven needs volunteers if we’re going to get it ready in time. It’ll be a lot of work, but now you understand why we need to do it. If we stick together, I give you my word, we won’t just survive. We’ll thrive.” 

_Clarke, with all due respect, what the fuck?_

She jumped down from where she had been standing to address everyone and made her way over. I could just about restrain myself from the barrage of questions thundering through my brain, but before I could ask the first one— _why?_ — Raven beat me to it.

“Nice speech,” she said pointedly. 

“Sometimes hope is more important than truth,” Clarke explained calmly. 

Raven looked at her in disgust, “Your dad would be so proud.” 

“Out of line,” I warned her.

Clarke took a step closer. “You wanted workers. You got them.” 

We were either very prepared… or very screwed. It was hard to tell which one.

~

It was early afternoon and I helped Clarke and Bellamy transport the food. The new rationing scheme wasn’t amazing, but people were going to have to deal with it. I didn’t classify myself as “people” because I was already hungry. This gave me the feeling that I’d be going out later and hunting one of those two-headed deers or something. 

“Two meals a day for people working as hard as ours—” Bellamy paused to lift something onto a shelf— “We won’t make any friends.”

Clarke sighed, “If there’s anything our people understand, it’s rationing. Besides, once we close those doors, it’ll be one meal a day for the next five years.” 

Raven flicked her welding mask to the back of her head as she turned around, “Try one meal every other day. Hunting parties are coming back with less and less. Thanks to your friend Niylah, we’re preserving more meat than ever but it’s still not enough.” 

“Damn,” I cursed. “How far out are they going?” 

“Too far,” Clarke warned. “Don’t even think about it.” 

I shrugged, “Already doing it.”

“Without a way to make water, growing our own protein like we did on the Ark is not an option,” Raven interrupted, setting us back on task. She shot Bellamy a look, “Remember that when we’re starving.” 

“I won’t be starving, because I won’t be inside,” Bellamy reasoned. 

I almost dropped the item I was holding in shock, “ _the fuck?_ ” I had plans to be on the outside of that door, but that didn’t mean he was allowed to do it too. My stupid decisions are _my_ stupid decisions. They need him in there.

“Yes, you will,” Clarke frowned at him. 

“Does that mean you made the list?” Raven asked blankly.

Clarke sighed, “No,” before changing the subject. “What about drinking water?” 

“Clarke, don’t change the subject. We need to know who’s going to be on the inside of these doors when the radiation comes,” she pressed. 

Clarke lowered her voice, “We don’t need to know now.” 

Before anyone else had a chance to say anything, and before I had the chance to shoot Bellamy a _“we are going to talk about this later”_ look, the announcement system brought us out of the conversation. 

“We need medical attention at the gate, looks like we got some sick people there.”

We pushed our way to the front of the crowd, getting them to lower their weapons. I could understand how Miller was suspicious after the sickness that almost killed half of us back at the original camp, but we needed to take a look at them before making any rash decisions. 

Clarke walked slowly towards them, “Nyko?” 

Miller grabbed Bellamy’s arm, holding him back, “What if it’s a Grounder attack like they did with Murphy?” 

“What happened to them?” Clarke asked in concern. 

“The sickness, we lost more than forty on the way,” Nyko replied.

Another Grounder woman was bent over coughing, but as she looked up and caught my eye, I raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Luna?” 

“Please don’t turn us away because of what I did to you,” she pleaded. 

Abby pushed through the crowd and made her way over, covering her mouth before realising something and uncovering it as she leant down to look at the new patients. Clarke knelt down next to her, “Mom, what is this?” 

“Fever, lesions, vomiting. It’s ARS,” she replied worriedly. 

Bellamy frowned, “What’s ARS?”

“Acute Radiation Sickness,” answered Abby. “When did the symptoms start?” 

“Not sure,” Luna replied, “Right before the fish started dying.” 

Raven blinked in shock, “The fish are dying?”

“Floating on the sea to the horizon,” Nyko confirmed. “In every direction.”

Well, so much for hunting then.

“They’re not contagious,” Abby announced, “Let’s get them to medbay.” 

Clarke turned around slowly, horrified, before kneeling down next to Bellamy and I as we looked at one of the dead who had collapsed just before reaching the gate. “It’s already here,” she whispered gravely. 

~

I walked out of medical after realising that I had no idea what I was doing, understood zero of the medical terms they had been using, and that I was literally no help whatsoever. Leaving them to think, I went to find Raven instead. She was sitting at a computer with a map and several other dialogue boxes open in a code I didn’t understand. 

“What’s up?” I noticed how she was more on edge than usual.

“Clarke and Bellamy will be here in two minutes, it’ll be easier if I explain it to you all together,” she replied apologetically. I looked at the screens, trying to figure out what it meant when as if on cue, Bellamy and Clarke walked in and made a beeline for us. Raven looked up when they arrived, not wasting any time before launching into her explanation. “So Luna’s rig is here, and if the fish in these waters are dying…” she pointed to the map on the screen, “Well, basically, we’re screwed.” 

Bellamy’s brow creased. “I don’t understand, A.L.I.E said we have six months.” 

“We don’t,” Raven answered frankly. 

Clarke took a deep breath, preparing for the bad news. “Well, then how long do we have?” 

“It’s hard to say. Radiation is dispersed by jet stream and carried by ocean currents, so it’s not an exact science but the leading indicators are small species die-offs— fish, insects. Based on the new data I’d say we have _two months_ of survivability. Maybe less.”

“The Ark won’t be ready,” Bellamy warned. 

“It’ll be close,” Raven spun around in her chair to face us. “If we triple the main hours and work around the clock then we should be able to achieve a hard seal before the black rain comes. We just have to decide who gets to live here.” 

Clarke tensed, “Raven, we are not talking about the list again.” 

“Clarke, we are running out of time. We have to make a plan for the day we close the doors, drill for it, make sure only the survivors only have guns. Agree on protocols for dealing with the people who are pissed off they’re not chosen,” Raven spoke sternly, but she was careful not to raise her voice in case someone else should hear them. “You asked me to be in charge of rationing and I’m doing it, but choosing who gets to live or die is your speciality,” she spat.

I watched as Clarke took another deep breath, ready to reply, but she was cut off before she got the chance by the sound of the rover’s engine turning on. 

“No one’s scheduled to take the rover out today,” I began to walk towards the door, the others close behind. Jaha sat in the front seat, his face that of someone on a mission. 

Bellamy opened the door, “Out of the vehicle.” 

“I need to make a run,” Jaha explained. 

Raven folded her arms, “All supply runs go through me, and shouldn’t you be working on the patch in Sector Five?” 

He turned off the engine and climbed out with an air of impatience, “A patch for a ship that can only save a hundred people?” Our eyes grew wide in shock but he brushed it off almost immediately, “Why are you surprised? I am an engineer. We have no way to generate water. The harder number is four hundred. Can you really sentence four hundred of our own people to death?” 

“You had no problem with that on the Ark,” I sniped. 

“We don’t have a choice,” Clarke tried not to snap at him, regretting the fact that her volume had risen slightly as she turned around to see the few people nearby stopping work and staring. I hoped they hadn’t heard the full conversation. 

“What if you do?” Jaha revealed, “What if I told you there might be a fallout shelter less than a day's drive from here. A fallout shelter, built to sustain thousands.”

Raven looked at him, puzzled. “We’ve been through the Chancellor’s files. All the bunkers you considered for the hundred were listed as ‘compromised’ or ‘unviable’. And now Mount Weather is too.” 

“Those were government bunkers,” he answered calmly as he reached into the rover and pulled out a tablet with a news article on the screen. 

Bellamy scoffed, and I didn’t need to turn around to know he was raising an eyebrow, “A doomsday cult?” 

“That’s right,” Jaha answered, “The second dawn.” 

Clarke hesitated, “They built a bunker?” 

“Their whole theology was based on riding out the end of the world,” he explained. 

Raven was still sceptical, “And why didn’t you consider it?”

“We couldn’t prove it existed.” 

I shot him an unimpressed look, “So why are you considering it now?”

“Because before now, we didn’t need it.” 

Clarke handed the tablet back, “You found it, didn’t you?” 

“We can’t be sure unless we check it out,” Jaha answered plainly. 

I rolled my eyes, “What happened last time you went looking for something that might or might not exist? Oh yeah, the _City of Light._ Ring any bells?”

“No. No way,” Raven protested. “We need that rover for hauling pieces of a three-ton patch we’re build—” 

“Yeah, but if he’s right, we don’t need a patch,” Clarke pleaded. 

Raven bristled, “Can I talk to you guys for a second?” Once we had stepped aside to a more private area, she continued. “Lyss is right, do we need to remind you of what happened last time Jaha went looking for salvation?”

“Raven, if that bunker is real, we can save a lot more than a hundred people,” Bellamy tried to reason with her. 

“If it’s not, we’ve lost another day,” she hissed. 

“Hey, look. If it’s not, I’ll make the list…” Clarke bargained. “Okay?”

She sighed, “Do what you want. I’ve got a ship to seal.” 

“I’ll drive?” I suggested, walking towards the driver’s door. 

Bellamy caught my arm and pulled me back before I could get in. “Absolutely not. You’re a terrible driver and I’d rather not die today,” he shot me a Knowing Look™ and I scowled in response. “Do I need to remind you what happened last time I let you drive?”

Last time I drove… there was an _incident…_ with a tree… and the rover took a week to be fixed… “Fine, passenger seat then,” I pulled a face. “But I’ll never improve if you never let me drive.” 

He rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh, “Get in the damn car, Lyss.” 

Clarke got in the back opposite Jaha, who was going to be given instructions. She looked at me, “When is this so-called driving incident, and how come I haven’t heard about it?” 

“It was after Mount Weather, I was allowed to take the car out on a supply run… and there was a tree in the way,” I shrugged in minor embarrassment. 

She laughed, “Like a fallen tree?” 

Bellamy shook his head, starting the engine. “No, like a living tree. She reversed straight into the tree. No warning, just tree. It’s the reason why the door doesn’t shut properly now.” 

“Shut up,” I rolled my eyes and ducked my head slightly as the blush crept up my cheeks. “That was _one_ time.” 

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye as he drove out the gates. “So you’re completely forgetting that time where—” 

“That was on you, you willingly let me drive even after the first time,” I protested. 

“Which is _exactly_ why you’re not driving today.”

I opened my mouth and realised the trap I had fallen into, shooting him a scowl but it wasn’t taken seriously thanks to the smile that refused to leave my lips. The best comeback I could come up with was “Shut up,” as I rolled my eyes, making both Bellamy and Clarke burst into laughter with Jaha sitting awkwardly in the back. 

~

In the back of the rover, Clarke watched the video about Second Dawn twice before handing it back to Jaha. “Please tell me you have more to go on than that,” she sighed. 

“In the two years before the bombs, Cadogan sold off most of the Second Dawn’s real estate holdings, generating tens of millions of dollars. But there was one thing he didn’t sell. I found this in his autobiography, it’s his childhood home,” he gave Clarke the tablet again and she handed it to me for a look. “His father built a bunker there to save his family. I think Cadogan used the church’s money to expand it.” 

“Grew up there, maybe he kept it for sentimental value,” Bellamy refused to get his hopes up. 

Jaha laughed, “His father beat him almost daily in that house. He hated living there.” 

“Why keep it if you’re liquidating everything else?” Clarke asked.

“Because that bunker is there,” Jaha said firmly. “I can feel it.” 

Bellamy sighed, “Guy sounds like a religious fanatic to me.” 

“Maybe,” Jaha suggested, “Or maybe he was just a leader willing to do whatever it took to save his people.” 

It was dark by the time we arrived, hopping out of the rover with flashlights and making our way towards the abandoned house. Something occurred to me and I frowned, “Has anyone thought of what might happen if this is an actual bunker? Like if it worked, then surely there’s going to be like a generation of people down there. On the off chance that there is, what makes you think they’ll be willing to give it up for the second apocalypse?”

Jaha blinked, “That is not something that had occurred to me.” 

“How do we know it’s even got a way to make water? If there were people in there, they could all have been dead after a year if they’re in the same situation that we are with the water. In which case we’re still screwed,” I thought out loud. 

“All great ideas, but maybe we should find the bunker first and take it from there?” Clarke suggested.

I nodded, “Fair enough.” 

“Cadogan learned how to survive from his father,” Jaha announced, “They hunted in these woods.” He stopped to lift up the tablet and compare the image on it to the surrounding area, “This is it.” 

Bellamy sighed, “Well, if anyone’s entitled to a lucky break, we are.” 

“Hear that? No insects,” Jaha remarked, and we went quiet to listen. Clarke shot Bellamy and me a concerned look. 

“Luna said the fish were dying…” she said quietly. 

Bellamy shone his flashlight, looking around the area. “What are the things that eat the fish and bugs gonna eat now?”

I scoffed, “What happened to us deserving a lucky break?” 

Clarke marched on ahead, “So what are we looking for?” 

“The bunker would’ve been at the lowest point,” Jaha advised. 

“Anything structural. Be careful,” Bellamy warned as I jogged after Clarke. 

She aimed her flashlight at the ground and followed its beam to make sure there weren’t any trip hazards. We walked slowly and kept an eye out until Clarke noticed a small sticking up hole in the ground. A passage. “I think I found something!” she called to the others as I began to kick away some of the surrounding branches, careful not to fall down the steps it revealed. 

Bellamy came over, going in first. “Stay behind me.” He went in first and we slowly descended the steps after him, keeping our heads low in order to not hit the ceiling. “Watch your step,” he warned, using his hand to brush away the cobwebs to get through. 

When I say cobwebs, I mean it might as well have been a curtain for all I could tell, it was so thick. There were spider’s webs everywhere and there’s not much that disgusts me but spiders… I shuddered just thinking about them. 

We continued onwards, getting to the bottom of the stairs and pausing as Bellamy stopped to examine a skeleton sat leaning against the wall. Its bony hand held a small disk and he picked it up and I shone the flashlight on it for a better view. 

“From the ashes, we will rise,” Bellamy read the inscription. “Not this guy.” He held the disk out for Jaha to take and he turned it over in his hands to reveal roman numerals on the back. 

“The eleventh seal. Their faith was based on twelve seals. Followers could level up by unlocking them one at a time. Only those who reached level twelve could achieve salvation,” Jaha explained. 

Clarke shone her flashlight around the walls until something caught her eye. The same seal was on what could have been a door. “Maybe that’s why they didn’t let him in.” 

“I was right,” Jaha whispered to himself. 

I raised an eyebrow, “Now would be a good time to circle back around to the ‘what if they’re still in here’ problem.” 

Bellamy took the most direct route in figuring out. He marched up to the door and pounded on it, calling through, “Hey! Is anyone there?” 

“Real subtle,” I laughed. 

Jaha ran his fingers along the edge, “It’s still sealed.”

“There’s no locks,” Clarke noticed, “No handles.” 

“That’s because it was designed to be opened from inside,” Jaha replied. 

A smile slowly spread across Bellamy’s face as he voiced his idea, “Or from the outside. By somebody with a rover.” 

Jaha attached the rover’s tow hook to the door and Bellamy got in the front seat to start the engine. The three of us backed away as Bellamy began to drive, pulling the rope tight between the vehicle and the door it was attached to. 

“I’d like to mention that if they _are_ in there, they’re going to be very pissed. But I’m going to overrule that with the fact that this is an incredibly awesome way to make an entrance that I endorse one hundred percent,” I announced, grinning as the rover tried to drive further forward, pulling on the rope. 

The vehicle practically screamed as Bellamy pushed harder on the accelerator and from below there was a satisfying crack which pulled a piece of metal with it as the rope flew out from the cave. 

“What happened?” Clarke looked at the piece of metal that had been torn away. 

Bellamy jumped down from the rover and slammed the door behind him, “Let’s go find out.” 

This time Jaha was first down the stairs, and he called back a triumphant, “It worked!” as he disappeared through the door into the bunker. He paused just inside the door and I waited as Bellamy lit a flare so that we could see better since the flashlights weren’t strong enough to combat the pitch darkness waiting for us inside. 

“This can’t be…” Jaha whispered in disbelief as we took in the sight. 

Remnants of skeletal corpses filled the so-called ‘bunker’ and water dripped down from above. I groaned, shouldn’t have got my hopes up, this was always going to be a dead end. 

“The bunker wasn’t sealed,” Bellamy’s voice echoed through the chamber, “The radiation would have killed them in days. This won’t save anyone.” 

~

The ride back to Arkadia was silent, and Clarke was torn because she knew she’d have to make the list now. She promised Raven. Bellamy was silent because he didn’t _want_ to be on it, Jaha said nothing because he knew he didn’t _deserve_ to be on it, and I stayed quiet because I knew I had to make sure that I _wasn’t_ on it. 

I followed Clarke and Bellamy into the Chancellor's office, watching out the window and only turning around once Bellamy’s soft snores echoed around the room. He had fallen asleep on the couch, boots and all, and the only thing he’d taken off was his gun which lay on the side table next to him. 

Slowly, I walked over to where Clarke was looking at the list, she was almost half-way down, and she had been sifting through people’s medical records and past job applications and she had just paused for a break, putting her head in her hands and sighing quietly. I leant against the desk next to her, taking the pen from her left hand and laying it on top of the paper. “Can I talk to you? Quietly?” I whispered, cocking my head in the direction of Bellamy fast asleep on the couch. 

“Sure,” she turned around in her chair, “You okay?”

I took a deep breath, “The list? I don’t want to be on it. There are two things I know for certain: one - you and Bellamy need to be on it, if you want everyone to survive because let’s face it, it’ll be chaos if you don’t. Two - I’m not useful. I don’t have any job experience, and the only things I’m good at are throwing knives, shooting, and sarcasm. None of which is necessary.”

“You’re a hunter, we’ll need you when we come back out,” she tried to reason with me. 

“Clarke, there won’t be anything _to_ hunt when we come back out!” I argued back, quietly, my eyes flicking over to Bellamy every so often to make sure he didn’t wake up. “Look, they need you two. We’ve always needed you two. His heart and your head, it’s the dream team. When you two make decisions together, people survive. You two need to be inside those doors, it’s a fact.”

“We need you too,” Clarke whispered quietly. 

“You don’t,” I sighed, “I don’t think with my heart or my head, I think with my fists. I make rash decisions, break things, and I’m hot-headed enough to make myself a liability if you’re trapped in here with me for five years. Put someone else in my place. I’m going to be here until the final days, helping you figure all of this out if you need me, but I’m not going to be inside. This time, I’m not one of the hundred.” 

“Lyss…” she faltered, unsure of what to say. 

“Just make sure you’re both on that list.” Biting back tears so that she wouldn’t see, I took another deep breath. “I’m going to get some air.”


	4. End of The Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Classy, ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ except it’s ‘shoot first, then ask them round for tea’."

I sat with my legs crossed, an action that would’ve caused more than a manageable amount of pain if I had tried it a few weeks ago. My headphones were in, playing the more dramatic of my two playlists. I knew I’d made the right choice, it wasn’t just the choice I _needed_ to make, but it was the choice I _wanted_ to make. 

I just wished I’d had more time.

There was so much still to do on earth. I hadn’t ever been fishing, something that seemed pretty boring but still fascinated me a little. I hadn’t seen an eclipse. I hadn’t _successfully_ driven a rover. I hadn’t actually ever watched a sunrise before, although I’d seen plenty of moonrises from the Ark back when it was in orbit. 

I tilted my head back to look at the dark sky as Ruelle’s _The Other Side_ played through my headphones. 

_Is it fair, or is it fate?_

_No one knows_

_The stars choose their lovers, save my soul_

_It hurts just the same_

_And I can’t tear myself away_

Even filled with the stress of the impending apocalypse, somehow I felt at ease as I listened to the music. 

_Did we ever see it coming?_

_Will we ever let it go?_

_We are buried in broken dreams_

_We are knee-deep without a plea_

_I don’t want to know what it’s like to live without you_

_Don’t wanna know the other side of a world without you_

I didn’t hear him arrive, but I felt the soft vibrations of Bellamy’s footsteps as he walked over. I looked over at him, and he only seemed half-happy to have found me. His face was a mixture of disappointment and another emotion that I couldn’t quite place. I had a feeling I already knew why he was here.

“Hey—” I began, but he cut me off almost as soon as the word left my mouth. 

“So Clarke finished the list.” 

I sighed, “Good, I know how hard it must have been for her.” 

“You’re not on it,” he said matter-of-factly. 

“I know.”

Bellamy raked a hand through his hair, “When I asked _why_ , Clarke told me that you specifically asked her to not, under any circumstances, put your name down.” 

I swallowed, “That’s true.” 

“ _Why?_ ” he sounded pained and I was hoping that he wouldn’t find out like this. 

“You don’t need me,” I sighed, “There are other more important people who would be more useful and I don’t want to take their spot. You’re going to need a farmer, or a doctor, or an engineer way more than you’ll need me. Besides, if we were on the Ark I’d have been floated for murder months ago, I’m living on borrowed time anyway.” 

“First of all, you can’t throw everything away because you ‘should’ve been dead by now’. That’s not how it works. Second of all, the list is a Plan B, we’re not stopping until we have a better option but we _do_ need you. You can’t die out here, okay?” His voice raised in crescendo before dropping to a whisper, “You’re too important for that.”

I paused. I recognised those words exactly. _You can’t die out here, okay? You’re too important for that._ That’s what I said to him while helping him to the rover when he got stabbed trying to rescue Clarke. I was at a loss for words, to put it lightly. 

“Look, there’s a hunting party leaving in the morning and I’d like you on it,” Bellamy sighed before turning around and walking away. 

Once he had gone, I tilted my head back and emitted a sound that was half-groan, half-drowning rat. _Well, that could’ve gone a little better._ Actually, let’s be real here. It could have gone a _lot_ better.

~

I woke up and pulled on my clothes quickly and awkwardly as I jumped up to look out the window to make sure they hadn’t left yet. Bellamy and the others were standing just inside the gate as it opened and I cursed at letting myself accidentally sleep in. _No. No. No._ Of all the days I had to not wake up on time, today? Really? I groaned as I stopped by the armoury, grabbing the first gun I saw and a couple of rounds of bullets, reaching the rest of the hunting party just as the gate finished opening. I bent over, panting. “I’m here,” I gasped. “We can leave now.”

Bellamy laughed, giving the rest of them the go ahead to march into the forest, “I wouldn’t leave without you, you know that right?” I could tell he was talking about more than just the hunting mission when he said that.

“Of course not,” I fully recovered, grinning, “I’m still the better shot.” 

He rolled his eyes and signalled to the watchtower to close the gate behind us as we followed the rest of the hunting party into the woods. “There’s barely any animals anymore,” Bellamy remarked, breaking the silence that had managed to descend on us. 

“Clarke told me about a large man-eating gorilla somewhere in here, but for once I’d rather not take my chances,” I laughed. “Have you tried birds?” 

Bellamy frowned, “What do you mean ‘have I tried birds’?” 

“As in shooting them out the sky, for a food source. Sure, they’re small and bony, but meat is meat,” I shrugged. “I’m sure if we got to a more open space we’d find some.”

“There’s a large field not too far from here, want to check it out? Might be a bust though,” he asked. 

I thought it over, “Sure, but there’s no point in bringing the whole group so we might as well split here.” 

He nodded, “Everyone break off into teams of two, meet back here in an hour and radio if there are any problems.” The rest of the party nodded and paired up, leaving us alone to walk in the direction of the field. “So, even with your ‘amazing’ shooting skills, do you really think you can shoot a bird in mid-air?” 

“I think it’s possible, I can try, and what else have I got left to lose? What about you, do _you_ think you can shoot a bird in mid-air?” I laughed, nudging him. 

“I think I’m just as good a shot as you,” Bellamy winked. 

I rolled my eyes, “You wish, Blake. You wish.” We arrived at the field and there were a few birds around, luckily. They covered the sky sparingly, and it was a while between appearances. “First to knock one down gets eternal bragging rights.” 

“Oh you’re on,” he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before raising his weapon, “Two o’clock.” 

I looked at my two and saw the bird, raising my gun and aiming. Bellamy got there first and fired a shot, but it missed by inches as the bird ducked and I groaned, “You scared him off! Amateur.” 

“How do you know it’s a he? I may be an amateur but at least I’m not bird sexist,” he said mockingly and I shot him a glare, only for its effects to be undercut by the smile teasing my lips. 

I tracked another bird down the scope of my rifle, following it along as it flew over the clearing. I slowed my breathing, steadying my aim in front of the bird’s path before squeezing the trigger. The bullet clipped the bird and it went down in a spiral somewhere in the forest along the edge of the field. Grinning, I turned to Bellamy who was trying to glare at me and failing. 

A cheeky smile on my face, I made a point of doing a dramatic bow. He rolled his eyes, “Okay, okay. I’ll admit that was impressive. But I’ll have you know I could have made that shot.” Bellamy began to walk across the field, “Lyss are you coming or not? We need to grab that catch of yours.” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I laughed, catching up to him. 

We walked into the forest and looked around the area where the bird should have fallen. For a moment I thought it could’ve been caught in the leaves above but when I looked there was nothing to be seen. It took a while for us to find it, and Bellamy was the first to notice it. The bird had been caught before it hit the ground, an arrow straight through its chest pinned it to the tree just above eye level. We had been looking either too low or too high, which is why it took us so long to notice. 

I frowned, walking towards the arrow and inspecting it. The next arrow hit the bark just above my head and Bellamy threw himself at me, knocking us both to the ground and the air out of my lungs. _We’re not alone._

The Azgeda warriors emerged and I wondered where the hell they had managed to hide where we hadn’t spotted them. I rolled over, scrambling to my feet as Bellamy did the same. I raised my weapon, “Whatever happened to honouring Lexa’s Coalition?”

“You’re coming with us to meet with the King,” Echo announced as she dropped down from above, the only one with a bow strapped to her back. 

“Classy, ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ except it’s ‘shoot first, then ask them round for tea’,” I rolled my eyes, reaching for my gun. “A ‘please’ would be nice.” 

Echo shot back, “We don’t have time to be nice,” before turning to the soldiers beside her. “Tie and gag them.” 

“That’s not necessary,” Bellamy warned, his hand also resting on his gun.

“Take their weapons too,” Echo ordered sharply and the guards surrounded us, pulling my arms behind me back and tying them there as they sliced through the strap of my gun and threw it to the ground, doing the same with Bellamy’s. He struggled and received a punch to the gut for his efforts.

My eyes darkened as I switched to trig, hoping it would get my point across. _“Touch him with that hand again and you’ll lose it.”_ I looked at him in concern, “Bellamy, you good?”

“Never better,” he said through gritted teeth as the other soldier pushed him onto his knees.

“Why are you rebuilding your ship? The King said that you and your people would be working towards a solution that benefits all of us, not just your people,” Echo asked as she walked towards us and tilted Bellamy’s head upwards with the end of her blade. 

“Go float yourself, Echo. If we wanted to talk, we'd talk to Roan,” I sighed. “Since you’re taking us there anyway, we might as well get a move on.” 

~

The journey to Polis was an uncomfortable one. Especially considering it’s hard to keep your balance with your arms tied behind your back awkwardly. My lip was bleeding by the time I managed to force the gag out of my mouth and I moved my head until it fell down to hang around my neck, blood dripping from my lower lip and turning the pale fabric crimson. 

Echo and the guards led us up the stairs and I silently wished that we hadn’t blown out the elevator during the A.L.I.E takedown. We waited outside of the embassy room and I tried to figure out who’s voices I could hear inside. I managed to place one as Roan, for definite, and the other sounded a lot like Kane. Once the king called for Echo, she brought us inside and her and her other soldiers threw us onto our knees as Kane’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Alyssa, Bellamy, are you alright? What is this?” He walked over to Bellamy and pulled his gag down as he checked us over in concern. 

I licked some of the blood away from my lips, wincing at the coppery taste. “I’ve been better,” I laughed. 

“Echo saw your people rebuilding your ship,” Roan explained as he got up from his chair. “She captured these two hunting in my woods, and there are two more downstairs.” 

_Two more? Who has he got here?_ I thought, wondering who else had been captured by Echo’s soldiers. “Some of them have been more revealing than others,” he remarked.

“How so?” Kane turned back to him, trying to stay diplomatic. 

“The ship, I’ve been told it’s a shelter from the radiation,” Roan looked at Kane expectantly. “Care to explain?”

“It’s a backup plan, nothing more,” Kane replied firmly.

Roan raised an eyebrow, “One of your men said that, too, just before he told us that you have a nightblood. It’s a good thing the flame’s been destroyed, or I’d be worried you’re planning an ascension.” 

“You have to trust me,” Kane replied, “We have discovered that nightblood helps metabolise radiation. We’re investigating ways to create it for everyone. Turn everyone into nightbloods so we can all survive.” 

“Blasphemy,” Echo spat. “Nothing they tell us is true.” 

I scoffed, “Says the spy who tricked us into leaving Mount Weather.” 

“This is true, it’s not blasphemy. It’s— it’s science,” Kane tried to explain. “If nightblood can save lives, we should use it.” 

Roan stepped forwards, “Truth is the first casualty of war. If your motives were pure, you would’ve shared your plan with me. Our alliance is broken.” He changed to Trig before announcing, _“Skaikru and Trikru are the enemy.”_

 _“What about them, sire?”_ One of the soldiers held a blade up to Bellamy’s throat teasingly. 

_“Hostages. Find Indra and Octavia,”_ Roan ordered and I shot Bellamy a glance, knowing that at the mention of his sister’s name he would begin to worry. 

“No, listen to me. No! No!” Kane cried as they restrained him. 

_“Kill everyone else,”_ Roan shouted, nodding to the guards to carry us away. I squirmed but it was no use and we were dragged back down the dozen flights of stairs to be put in the holding cell. I heard Octavia’s name again before Echo disappeared and even though Roan wanted her alive… this is Octavia, and she’ll go down fighting. 

They shackled us at the far end of the holding cell against the rusted iron railings. I sat on the floor, leaning against them with Bellamy about a metre to one side of me and Kane the same distance on the other. 

Bellamy sighed, “Doesn’t matter what we do. We always end up here— the brink of war.” 

“Abby’s on the island. She’ll find a cure, I know she will,” Kane reassured him. “Hey, we will get through this.”

I shot him a look, “And how many ‘things’ are we gonna have to get through before we can finally live? First it was the Grounder attack when we landed, then Mount Weather, then A.L.I.E, now it’s the end of the world— _again._ It’s kind of tiresome.” Kane sighed at me and I realised that it wasn’t the best energy to be bringing to this situation. “I mean… go team? We got this?” 

Bellamy managed a small nod and smile at my “enthusiasm”. 

Yeah, I didn’t believe me either. 

The keys jangled as the door unlocked and we looked up at Echo as she walked in. It was hard to notice, but she did seem to be distressed as she walked in, even behind her morbid war paint. “On your feet,” she ordered blankly, gesturing at us to stand up. 

Kane was first to get up, “What are you doing?” as Bellamy and I begrudgingly followed his example. 

“We’re bringing you home,” Roan announced as he emerged through the door. He didn’t have the trademark Azgeda white war paint on, but he did have black circles painted around his eyes that made him seem to be wearing an unusual amount of eyeliner. “Your ship is a shelter from Praimfaya, so I intend to take it.” 

I groaned, “That’s very inconvenient for everyone else.” 

“That’s the point,” Echo replied exasperatedly. 

“I know, I was just announcing it,” I shrugged. 

“You don’t have to do this,” Kane pleaded, “We can find a solution together.”

Roan raised a hand to silence him, “That time has passed. Get them ready to march,” he ordered as he turned towards the door.

“Octavia will get there first,” Bellamy warned them, his faith in his sister unwavering. “She’ll warn them you’re coming. You’ll lose.” 

Roan slowly turned to Echo, and after a moment of them staring at each other, she turned to face Bellamy more slowly than I thought was even possible, refusing to look him in the eye as she pulled out the broken blade from her jacket. _Octavia’s sword._ Kane stared at them in shock, turning back to Roan in disbelief but I continued to focus on Bellamy, as he blinked, and blinked again. He blinked a third time, trying to comprehend it. 

“She wouldn’t be taken alive,” Roan told him. 

“No… No…” Bellamy’s eyes filled with tears as he continued to shake his head, turning back against the iron railings and resting his head against them. 

“I am sorry,” Roan said quietly, and I believed he meant it. But it didn’t matter what he meant, or how he said it, or anything that had happened because _Octavia was dead._

I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know what to say.

_Octavia was dead._

“It was a good death,” Echo said gravely, and I clenched my fists in anger as I _tried_ to stay calm. 

_“Bring the prisoners,”_ Roan ordered, and this time I couldn’t fight my anger as one of the soldiers moved towards us. 

I snapped, “Give us a fucking minute, or I swear to god bitch, I will _personally_ carve the entire English alphabet into your chest while you sleep. That's twenty-six letters of pure fucking vengeance right there. Get out.”

The soldier looked to his King for confirmation to continue forward but Roan raised a hand, looking dead at me. _“No, let them have a moment to grieve.”_ The soldiers waited outside and I turned my focus back to Bellamy as he sank towards the floor and pulled on the bars of the railing. 

I pulled out the tool I had fashioned for lock-picking from the lining of my sleeve and made short work of my shackles. I didn’t intend to kill anyone, not this time, but there was only one thing I wanted to do. I rested my hand on Bellamy’s shoulder, letting him know that I was here. He looked up, and although it shouldn’t have come as that much of a shock, I was surprised to see how quickly he had fallen apart, how quickly he had just… _broken._

He kept muttering the word “no” over and over as he tried to fight against the facts of what had happened, his hands shredding as his fingers tightened around the old metal. I rubbed his shoulder again and it seemed to register this time, and Bellamy turned to face me. My heart broke for him as I wrapped my arms around him as he cried, squeezing him reassuringly as his chest heaved with every muffled sob. 

_Octavia was gone._


	5. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So, I see you've made some friends..."
> 
> "Has anyone ever told you you're terrible at easing tension?"

They gave it five, maybe ten minutes, but it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t ever be enough. Roan didn’t seem surprised to notice that I wasn’t attached to the wall any longer, but he said nothing as his soldiers bound my arms again and did the same to Bellamy and Kane as they unlocked their shackles. The three of us stayed quiet, and for once I had nothing else to say. 

We were marched along with the army, but they had covered our heads with cloth and it angered me that I couldn’t see anything. The only indicator that we were stopping was the sound of footsteps coming to a halt, and a shout of _“Bring forward the prisoners”_ from Roan in Trig as the three of us were dragged to the front of the line before being pushed to our knees. 

Three soldiers tore the fabric from over our heads and I looked up to see Clarke standing alone in front of the Azgeda army. She’s got balls, I’d give her that. More than a dozen green beams of light were focused on Roan, and it only took me a minute to realise that they were the laser sights of The Guard’s rifles. 

“Your move, Wanheda,” Roan announced just after they revealed us, and Clarke looked back up to the shooters on the ridges either side of us before replying. 

“Ten minutes. That’s all I ask,” she said calmly, her voice echoing around the open area.

Roan dismounted and began to walk towards Clarke as she turned and made her way back between the ridge. Echo warned him, “Wait. Where’s she going? What if it’s a trap?” 

He paused to turn back briefly, “It is a trap. We’re already in it,” before following Clarke and disappearing after her. 

Echo dismounted from her horse once he was gone. “Okay, the King is clear. Archers, the first gunshot you hear, loose your arrows. Infantry on my command, scatter and climb. Kill till there’s no one left.”

“This is insane,” Kane told her. “They knew you were coming. We have thousands of rounds. You’ll be the ones with no one left.” 

At the words “they knew you were coming”, Bellamy’s face changed. A sliver of hope flashed across it briefly. 

“What is it?” I looked at him.

“They thought they had the element of surprise. But we did. Someone warned them,” Bellamy’s eyes misted over slightly. 

I sucked in a breath, “You think it was Octavia?”

“She’s alive,” he whispered. “She’s alive.” 

Who else could it have been? I didn’t want to give him false hope, but yet… “She’s too stubborn to die.”

“Look out! Skaikru!” Someone shouted and I whipped my head around to see Monty coming down from the rocks with his arms raised in surrender. 

He called out, “Hey, stop, I’m unarmed. I need to talk to whoever’s in charge.”

“Dammit, Monty,” I cursed. “What the hell are you doing?”

One of the soldiers grabbed him and threw him to the ground in front of us. Monty locked eyes with Bellamy as he asked, “Is Octavia alive?” Monty gave a small nod in reply before turning to Echo as she made her way over. 

I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, our situation was pretty dire… but at least Octavia had made it. 

“Speak,” Echo ordered him. 

“One of our people has moved out of formation,” Monty explained. “I’ve reason to believe he’s trying to kill your king.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” She narrowed her eyes at him. 

Bellamy sighed, “Why do you think he’s telling you this? He’s trying to stop a massacre.” 

“Shit, Echo. Not all of us want a goddamn war like you,” I rolled my eyes. 

“Who is it?” Kane asked Monty.

“Riley.” 

Bellamy’s eyes widened, “Riley? He shouldn’t even be here.” 

“That seems to be the consensus,” Monty agreed. 

Echo gathered a small group together but Kane shouted to her before she could leave, “Wait! If our shooters see archers on the move then they’ll open fire. Tell her,” he looked to Monty.

“Those are our orders,” Monty confirmed.

“I will not allow my King to be assassinated,” she warned.

“He doesn’t have to be,” Bellamy protested. “I know Riley. Let me come with him, I can stop him.” 

Echo scoffed, “Do you think me a fool, Bellamy?”

I cut in, “You will be if you don’t listen to him.”

“You’d be a dead fool if you step out of this kill box without me. Use Monty’s radio and let Kane tell them we’re working together to find Riley, and they’ll let us pass,” Bellamy explained. 

She paused to think it over before nodding to the soldier who had grabbed Monty, letting him toss her the radio so that she could hand it to Kane. He spoke into it, “This is Chancellor Kane.”

He was interrupted by Miller’s dad, “Sir, are you alright?” but he continued.

“Listen to me. Bellamy’s working with one of theirs to find Riley. You let them through, understood?” 

Echo snatched back the radio from him as David Miller’s “Copy that,” rang through the small device. She clipped the radio to her belt before ordering one of the soldiers to take off Bellamy’s chains. 

She finished her sentence in English, looking at Monty and smirking, “And put it on this one.” The soldier hauled Monty to his feet but only to throw him back down next to me and secure his hands with the same chains used on Kane and I. “If I’m not back before the sun goes past the trees, kill the hostages.” Echo threw a glance at me, “Scared?”

“You should be,” I smiled back, knowing that wasn’t what she meant at all. 

She turned Bellamy around and pushed him forwards, and the pair of them began to walk towards where Roan and Clarke had disappeared. 

After a while, Monty said quietly. “So, I see you’ve made some friends…” 

I laughed, keeping my voice low. “Has anyone ever told you you’re terrible at easing tension?

“No, they haven’t.” 

“Well then, Monty. Let me be the first to tell you that you’re _terrible_ at easing—” I was cut off by a large explosion which caused everyone to look up, taken off guard. “What the hell?”

Monty shot me a worried look, “It came from Arkadia.” 

Clarke and Roan emerged into the clearing at a run, with Bellamy and Echo close behind. Roan ordered that they free us and as a mass we moved towards the rising smoke. 

Our safe haven had just blown up. 

We were completely, utterly, _royally fucked._

~

Bellamy looked around frantically, “I need to find my sister.” 

“She was in medical,” Clarke told him. “How did this happen?” 

People were running and screaming and half of Alpha Station was up in flames. “There!” I pointed, grabbing Bellamy’s arm to show him as a guy ran out of the blaze with Niylah on one arm and Octavia on the other.

“O!” he shouted, rushing over to her and carrying her, “Let’s get you out of here.” 

Clarke grabbed Niylah, lowering her onto the floor so that she could catch her breath. I looked around and my hand closed on the soft material of Monty’s jacket, “Where the hell is Jasper?” 

His eyes went wide, “We have to find him.” 

I spared one last look at Octavia but before we could look for him, Clarke called out for Monty to take over with Niylah. I grabbed his arm, “Help her. I’ll find him.”

“Jasper!” I screamed, my eyes darting back and forth across the scene, trying to pick him out in the crowd. “Jasper!” I spotted the familiar face staggering out of the wreckage as another bang resounded, pieces of shrapnel flying across as part of the ring broke off, burst into flames. I ran towards him, knocking him to the ground as more metal flew in all directions, barely missing us. 

The smoke surrounded us and it became hard to breathe, forcing us to crawl along the ground to keep below it. We made our way back to the ground and Monty and Niylah helped us to our feet, Monty wrapping Jasper in the largest hug. 

When Jasper pulled away, he watched the blaze intently, “I think we deserve a drink after that,” he remarked. 

“I’m pretty sure all the alcohol is currently burning right about now,” Monty informed him apologetically. 

Jasper groaned, “Float me now.”

“You came pretty damn close,” I clapped him on the back before making my way over to Bellamy, Clarke and Octavia. “I’m glad you’re alive,” I told Octavia. She laughed, drifting in and out of consciousness. 

“Who the fuck do we blame for this mess?” An all too familiar voice shouted, and I turned around to see my father. Alive. Are you fucking _kidding_ me? This bastard somehow survived landing on earth, the city of light, and a large fire. 

I glared at him, “How the ever-loving fuck are you still alive?” 

Before he had a chance to respond, I heard Clarke gasp in horror behind me. “Shit, Alyssa.”

“What?” I turned back to her, tilting my head slightly in confusion.

“There may or may not be a substantial piece of shrapnel sticking out of your back,” she warned me, using a tone that implied it was definitely the former.

My eyes widened as the adrenaline began to wear off and the sharp pain darkened the edges of my vision, giving me one chance to grab hold of her before I fell unconscious, slumping into her arms without warning.


	6. Running Errands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We've got a problem."
> 
> "We've ALWAYS got a problem. You're going to have to be more specific."

I came to in medical, the light’s flickered but they still did their job just well enough for me to see Octavia in the bed next to me. She was on her side with an arm curled under her pillow. I tilted my leg to look at her properly, “Hey. Nice to see you’re still kicking,” I remarked, smiling.

“Likewise,” she nodded. “That’s got to have hurt. They barely had an anaesthesia but you were almost flat out unconscious for most of the procedure.” 

I raised an eyebrow, “Most? I don’t remember waking up…” I pulled a face, “Can’t have been fun.” 

“Reaper stick,” Octavia explained. “Clarke kept complaining how although it wasn’t deep, the hot metal cauterised itself or something which made it even harder to get out.”

I raised a hand and moved it behind me, feeling along until I got to the wound and wincing. “Surface wound, I’ll be alright.” Slowly, but without turning on to my back, I pushed myself up as I dangled my legs over the edge of the bed. My jacket was on the side, a large hole torn in the back but I decided that was a problem for another day… even though I was amazed that there was still a jacket left at this point, most of it being made up of patches from holes created during previous injuries. 

My feet touched the ground and as I stood upright a jolt of pain twinged. I ignored it, walking slowly over to the medicine cabinet on the far side to find some painkillers. Thanks to Raven’s rationing, there were only two pill boxes on display. I grabbed a small container from the side and emptied a few of them into it before putting it in my pocket and popping one of the remaining pills in the bottle into my mouth as I screwed the lid tightly shut. 

When I turned around, Bellamy was trying to talk to Octavia at the other end of the room, but she refused to face him. I knew I shouldn’t interrupt, so I walked slowly and waited until they were finished to talk to Bellamy about the new plan, which I knew he would have. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but hear their conversation. 

“Get out,” Octavia spat, still refusing to turn over to look at him. 

“Octavia, I thought you were dead,” he said quietly. 

She still didn’t move, “Octavia is dead. She died when you killed Lincoln.” 

“Please don’t say that, O,” Bellamy pleaded. “Hey, I’m your brother.”

Octavia finally rolled over slightly, just enough so that she could look at him without straining her neck, “Why do you think you’re still alive?” She put her head back against the pillow and he swallowed, taking a few steps away from her and running a hand through his hair. 

I finished walking over, “Hey,” I put a hand on his shoulder. 

Bellamy spun around, probably surprised to see me up so quickly. “You should be in bed,” he sighed, nodding in the direction of where I had been passed out barely ten minutes earlier. 

“I should be where the action is. What’s happening? I want to know the new game plan,” I protested. 

“Clarke and I are taking Roan and his men to help us deliver hydrazine to Raven on the island so that she can go to space and make nightblood,” he explained. 

I laughed, “Brilliant. When do we leave?”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he warned.

“Since when has saying _that_ ever accomplished anything? You know me better than that,” I punched his arm playfully. “I’ll sit in the back with the Azgeda dudes. I bet they’re _great_ conversation.” 

Bellamy shot me an exasperated look, “You’re not going to stop, are you?” 

“Nope,” I grinned, “Come on— we’re wasting valuable daylight when we could be _driving._ Besides, I bet there’s great food on this island. Oh, and if I’m with you then you can keep an eye on me and stop me from doing anything stupid, so there’s that.” 

“You drive a hard bargain, Lyss. Come on,” he sighed, making his way out of what was left of Alpha Station and towards the rovers where they were being loaded with the hydrazine barrels. He walked faster than usual, but I still managed to keep up thanks to the stellar speed-walking skills I had perfected while my leg was too bad for me to run. 

“There’s something on your mind, I can tell,” I frowned as we walked, falling into step with him as we crossed the compound. “It’s Octavia, isn’t it.” 

“It’s not important. Not for now. Our top priority is getting this hydrazine to Raven. I’ll drive, let’s go,” he nodded to Clarke as we passed her and I climbed into the back of rover one as she slid into the passenger seat. 

The first thing Clarke said to him once we’d left Arkadia with the cargo vehicle close behind, carrying the precious rocket fuel, was “Is it Octavia?”

I shot him a knowing look in the rearview mirror but he rolled his eyes in response. “Keep your eyes on the trees,” he reminded her, dodging the question. 

“She hasn’t forgiven you, has she?” Clarke pressed. Clearly, I’m not the only perceptive one around here. “I told you it would take time.”

He sighed, keeping his eyes on the road and blinking to clear them. “We don’t have much of that left now, do we?” At that moment, figures appeared in front of the car and Bellamy was forced to pick up the radio and talk to the cargo truck. “Hang on, we got a situation.” 

I could count ten… maybe twelve Grounders in our way. 

“Looks like a Trikru checkpoint,” he announced. “Stay alert. Show no weapons. Keep your passengers on ice.” 

“Wait,” Clarke looked around, “It’s not a checkpoint. They have wounded.” She opened the door and climbed out of the vehicle. 

I shot Bellamy a look, “You remember when Murphy saved our asses in Polis when everyone was chipped? You said to him, ‘Clarke’s in trouble’ and he said back ‘Clarke’s _always_ in trouble’? I relate to that _hard_ right now.” 

“What is she doing?” Roan’s voice came through the radio. 

“Being Clarke,” Bellamy sighed. “No one else gets out.” He groaned as he got out the car and I climbed into the front to get a better view. 

Clarke made her way over to the wounded man and looked at him, before giving Bellamy a small shake of her head to show he couldn’t be saved. She apologised, and he asked them to clear the road before something caught his eye. My hand rested on my knife, ready to use it if necessary. 

“Broadleaf and Plains Riders are moving against Azgeda,” the Grounder in charge announced, “We want in.” 

“Hey, kid!” Bellamy warned, “Get away from there.” 

I craned my neck to see a child backing away from the rear end of the cargo truck. Quickly, I moved into the back of the rover to allow Bellamy to get in. “Damn it,” he cursed as the child shouted out.

“Azgeda! Azgeda!” He screeched and all of the other members of his clan drew their weapons, loosing arrows into the open end of the cargo truck. 

_The cargo truck with the hydrazine in._

“Look, I know if we hit a bump we could blow all of us sky-high, but if we don’t drive faster then we’re screwed either way,” I felt the need to announce. 

We drove through the trees until we got to the beach. “Looks like we’ve got another problem,” Bellamy sighed as he hopped out of the rover. 

Unfortunately, there appeared to be a large river flowing through the middle of our route. 

I climbed out and stood beside him as Clarke climbed out of the passenger side, “Murphy didn’t say anything about a river,” she groaned.

“What else could go wrong?” I shrugged, “We should’ve expected every worst-case scenario at this point, you know this planet hates us.” 

Roan appeared next to us, looking at the flowing water and nodding understandingly. “Ice melt. I’ll find us a place to cross upstream.”

“Wait,” Clarke stopped him. “Take the rover. It’ll cover ground faster and it’ll be safer.”

“With him?” Bellamy raised an eyebrow. 

She sighed, “We have to get across the river. The rest of us will stay here and guard the fuel.” 

“We won’t be long,” he said reassuringly as he climbed back into the rover, hanging out of the side to call out “Eyes sharp.” 

I laughed, “‘Eyes sharp, weapons hot.’ I really do think that might be his catchphrase at this point.” 

Clarke nodded as she walked towards the cargo truck. I leant against it and absentmindedly used a knife to dig out some of the dirt underneath my fingernails. After a moment or two, I decided to climb in the back of the truck, sitting with my legs swinging on the edge. One of Roan’s guards— I think his name was Seiku— broadened his patrol area slightly to include walking along the water’s edge. 

Then he dropped like a stone. Clarke shot up, ready to run to him to see what had happened but I jumped out of the truck and caught her sleeve. “Don’t,” I hissed, pointing at the arrow sticking out of his back. At first, I had thought it was Trikru. But then I realised which direction the arrow had come from, and that was by the truck. On the other side of it, the side where we hadn’t been standing. “They were planning this.”

She hesitated, looking for the perpetrator, but I felt the cold blade of a knife held by my throat before she turned back around. One of the Azgeda guys hadn’t left the truck. He’d been sitting in the back, waiting. And now his blade could kill me. He snapped at Clarke as his friend came around the front, “Drive. Or she dies.” 

One soldier led her to the front and pushed her in the driver’s seat, the other was left in the back with the blade to my throat. With a jolt, the vehicle began to move and the man pulled me towards the end of the truck that wasn’t open as he tore the cover off from above us. 

Once the vehicle was going, it continued to gain speed and any sudden bump could cause the knife at my throat to accidentally (or on purpose) slice. I didn’t move. Not yet. There were a million and one scenarios but none of them ended with me alive. I cursed inwardly as we pulled out into green fields. _Where the hell was Bellamy?_

As if he had heard me, the rover’s engine cried out in the distance and I looked out of the corner of my eye to see it racing up the hill alongside us, gathering speed. The cargo truck began to slow but it lurched as it sped up again. The soldier removed the knife from my throat and pushed me against the car, dazing me to give him a chance to move towards one of the fuel barrels. 

The rover pulled up alongside us and my eyes widened as Roan climbed out of the turret and stood balancing on the roof. I’m always one for dramatic entrances, but this? I decided I had a newfound respect for the Azgeda King. He jumped, landing on the soldier in the back with me and wrestling with him. At one point, the soldier got the upper hand but I cleared my head and took a step towards the disarray, pulling out a knife and jamming into the nearest of the soldier’s available limbs. Even though Roan didn’t actually seem to need the help, he nodded at me before continuing the fight.

The soldier rolled on top of Roan and I frowned as I noticed the rover speed up and pull in front of the truck, before turning my attention back to Roan as he stabbed the soldier, muttering _“Traitor”_ as he forcefully kicked him from the vehicle. 

“Roan!” I shouted, “Hydrazine!” 

He grabbed the barrel and moved it away from where the soldier had perched it at the edge before turning to me. “Last time I checked, you and I were not on a first-name basis.” 

“We are now,” I held out my hand. “Alyssa.” 

Roan hesitated, raising an eyebrow before sighing and clasping my hand. He nodded at me before climbing on top of the driver’s part of the truck, with me close behind. I emerged above it just in time to see Bellamy jerk the rover’s steering wheel sideways and roll to a stop with the driver’s door directly opposite the oncoming truck. He kicked the door open and raised his gun, waiting a fraction of a second before shooting through the windshield, presumably killing the other soldier. As far as I could tell, that was when Clarke slammed her foot on the brakes as Roan and I braced for impact, leaving Bellamy about 0.2 seconds to pull himself inside the rover before the truck rolled to a stop barely a metre from it. 

I laughed, breathing heavily. “Well, fuck me. That was intense.” 

“Yes,” Roan nodded, removing his hand from the back of my jacket— he had grabbed it at some point to make sure I didn’t roll off the truck and in front of the car— and climbing down. “It was.”

I watched as Bellamy emerged from the rover cautiously with a small, relieved smile. He panted, leaning against both of the vehicles at once and standing in the small gap between them. Laughing breathlessly, I climbed down slowly from the truck, finally able to relax once my feet were on solid ground again. Smiling, I made my way over to him. “And you say _I’m_ the one with a flair for the dramatics.”

“You must be rubbing off on me,” he rolled his eyes before reaching up and gently brushing his finger along a new cut on my eyebrow, wiping the dirt from it. “You guys okay?”

“Never better.” 

~

Roan and Clarke sat in the cargo truck behind us and Bellamy and I led the way in the rover. Once we arrived at the beach, Bellamy hesitated before getting out. I looked at him frowning, “What?”

“I’m going to take the rover back to camp,” he said decisively. 

I gave him a sympathetic smile, “Octavia?” 

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it? She hates me, but I keep coming back for more,” he managed a laugh, but it was humourless.

I shook my head, “It’s not pathetic at all. You love her, and you’re not going to stop loving her. I wish I knew what it felt like to love someone that much.” 

“It hurts,” he told me.

“In the wise words of Raven, ‘What’s better than a little pain to tell you you’re still alive?’ She’s your family, you’re not going to stop loving her, even if it hurts. It’s like a switch that’s stuck on ‘on’."

“Thought you said we were family too?” Bellamy mustered a small smile and nudged me. 

“We are, but Octavia was first. She’s your sister. It may take her a while to forgive you, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. She’ll come around. Her switch is stuck on ‘on’ too, but the wires are just crossed so she doesn’t realise it yet,” I shrugged. “There isn’t really a ‘normal’ to get back to, but whatever it is, you’ll get there eventually.” 

He paused, “Lyss, if I don’t see—” 

“Nope. Nopedy nope nope _nope._ If you say ‘may we meet again’, or you make this tearful and dramatic, I will be reduced to a sobbing mess. This is _not_ goodbye. I refuse,” I emphasised each ‘no’ with a point of my finger, making the corners of his lips turn up slightly. “This is a goodbye-free zone. We take none of that here. You _will_ see me again. You _will._ It is a complete and utter one hundred percentio _promise._ No goodbyes, just a casual… catch you later. Yeah? Catch you later,” I finished my rambling, punctuating the ‘catch you later’ part with a wink and some of the cringiest finger guns I had ever seen. 

This time, he fully couldn’t stop the smile and Bellamy put a hand over his face either to hide tears or to hide from my brilliant awkwardness. I grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his eyes, shaking my head. “Witness me in all my catastrophic glory, because I am the ultimate mess, and I wear that title like a badge of honour. You haven’t seen the last of me, I have way too many bad jokes that I’m not willing to let go to waste.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he sighed with a small smile as he opened the rover door. 

Roan’s voice called out from behind the truck where he was unloading the hydrazine, “We’ve got a problem.” 

“We’ve _always_ got a problem. You’re going to have to be more specific,” I groaned.

“We’ve got a hydrazine problem,” he glared at me, “That specific enough, _Alyssa_?” As we walked over to him, he turned the barrel over to reveal the knife sticking out of it. “Trikru arrow.” Roan kicked the barrel over and it fell to the ground, the lid popping off and landing next to it. _It was completely empty._

“No,” Clarke shook her head in disbelief.

I tilted my head back in exasperation, “Fuck, Raven is going to _kill_ us.”


	7. Raining Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Shit, talk him out of it?"
> 
> "I can try, but it won't work."

After a brief not-goodbye with Clarke, Bellamy climbed into the rover. I looked between him and the supply truck before talking to Clarke and making my way over to the rover before he started the engine. “Looks like I’m coming back with you,” I smiled, sliding into the front seat.

He laughed, “What happened to ‘I bet there’s great food on that island’ or something?”

“They don’t need me, at least at Arkadia I’m somewhat useful. So you don’t get to waste finger guns on a crappy ‘catch you later’. Not yet anyway,” I nudged him. “But I’m choosing the music on the way back.” 

Bellamy groaned, “Really?”

“Of course if you let me drive…” I trailed off, grinning. 

“Music it is!” he replied quickly, handing me the cable to plug my MP3 into the rover. 

I laughed, “Wise choice, my friend. Wise choice indeed,” as I clicked through the songs and turned up the volume on _Pompeii_ by Bastille. _“And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love… Great clouds roll over the hills, bringing darkness from above...”_

_But if you close if your eyes_

_Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?_

_And if you close your eyes_

_Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?_

Bellamy sighed, rolling his eyes as I burst into song. If we don’t make nightblood and we all end up dead, at least we’ll have made good memories beforehand. And if I can’t embarrass my best friend in a car only the two of us are in, then what else can I do?

_How am I gonna be an optimist about this?_

_How am I gonna be an optimist about this?_

~

We rolled into Arkadia just before the clouds. It didn’t look brilliant from the ground and as the thunder crackled, I looked at the sky. The first drop fell and I winced as it burned my skin, _okay, that’s never a good sign._

“Black rain,” Bellamy realised, before vocalising his thoughts louder in a warning, “BLACK RAIN! Sound the alarm!”

Kane reacted quickly, “Everybody inside! Now!” 

Bellamy ran to pass out covers for people to hold over their heads and I grabbed one, shielding my face from the ran as I ran for cover. The rain intensified and people began to scream as it hit their bare hands. Someone fell and Harper ran to them but I grabbed her, pulling her inside after me and covering her head with the bag I had been given. 

Once inside, everyone began to strip off their clothes and soak them in the water, trying to wash it off and clean their skin to get rid of the radioactive dust. I froze, “Has anyone seen Jasper?” 

He appeared out of nowhere, “I was getting a drink, what’s up?” 

I breathed a sigh of relief, “Black rain. Glad you’re okay. You’re not contaminated, so get to a more secure area.” 

Jasper nodded, “Alrighty then. You can find me where the moonshine is.”

I took off my jacket and ditched the weapons on the floor next to me as I cleaned my face and hair, urging Harper to do the same but all she could do was stare towards the door that we had come in through, listening to the cries of the man on the outside. I shot one look at Bellamy and Kane but they were already preparing to run back out, covering their heads as they hauled the guy to his feet and brought him in, letting two of his friends take him to medbay from there. 

Once Harper’s senses kicked back in, she tore her t-shirt off and began to wash the rest of the rain off. When the explosion went off, half of the living quarters were decimated, but somehow my room wasn’t amongst them. I ran in and grabbed a pair of trousers and another t-shirt, a fresh one, before picking two others and giving them to another girl who got the worst of it and Harper. 

Looking around, I realised one person was missing. _Octavia._ Which meant that Bellamy was probably about to brave the storm looking for her. I got close enough to hear the tail-end of his conversation with Kane. “The rain will kill her.”

“She’s smart,” Kane reassured him, his hand unmoving from where it held onto Bellamy’s jacket to stop him from leaving. “You gotta trust that she found shelter, okay?”

“It’s true,” I nodded, “Like I said, she’s too stubborn to die. You know she’s gonna be fine. There are caves everywhere.” 

He nodded and reached out to pull the door shut behind him, wincing as the rain hit the back of his neck. Kane took charge, “All wet clothes in the designated zone!” He ordered, checking on everyone individually to make sure they were okay. I tossed my jacket begrudgingly and pushed my knives away to the side to come back for them later. I continued to splash the clean water over myself before pulling the fresh clothes on. 

Kane’s radio crackled into life and I knew before they even started speaking that it was going to be bad news. Everyone should be inside, but they weren’t. “Hello, is anyone there? Look, we’re caught out in the rain, and it burns. We’re trapped in the rubble just north of the factory crash. Please? Can anyone hear me?”

“This is Chancellor Kane, I hear you. Do you hear me?” 

“Kane. Kane, It’s Mark Colton,” the man on the other end spoke frantically. “Look, please, my son is soaked with black rain. Please! You gotta help us! Hurry!”

“I’m going after them,” Bellamy announced firmly. 

I had to do a double-take, “Are you crazy? The rover doesn’t have enough power and all the suits we have are damaged from the fire. You could _die._ ” 

“They’ll be dead if I don’t try, I’ll patch up the suit,” he said decisively. “I can’t leave them out there.”

“This is insane…” I ran a hand through my wet hair, “You’re really going to do this?”

Bellamy nodded, “That’s Colton and his kid out there, Peter was one of the hundred. I’m going, Lyss.” 

“Shit,” I groaned as he jogged off down the corridor to find the suit. I turned to Kane, “Talk him out of it? Please?” 

“I can try,” Kane sighed, “But it won’t work. Go help the others in medbay and in the hangar bay. They need as many extra pairs of hands as they can get.” 

I nodded, setting off in the direction of the hangar bay. Harper told me to grab blankets, so I stopped by to grab a few spares as I made my way over, handing them out to those injured who couldn’t make it to medical. It was a distressing sight, those who had gotten the worst of the black rain were writhing in pain and crying out for help. Nothing could really save them now. Sparing a glance across the room, I spotted Bellamy as he finished ‘patching up’ the suit, which looked like it was more duct tape than the original material at this point. 

My breath caught in my throat. He was really going to do this. 

Kane was talking to him, but Bellamy shook his head firmly and picked up the helmet before heading towards the door, looking more determined than ever. I cursed, running a hand through my hair before following Kane as he stalked after him. 

Bellamy put on the helmet and secured it. He released the catch on the door and pushed it open, stepping out into the rain. I held my breath, my body completely tense and my fingernails digging into my palms as I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles went white. He continued to walk through the rain but he flinched and I realised that the duct tape had done nothing to repair the suit. 

“Bellamy!” I screamed, “Come back! Please!”

He zig-zagged as he began to run, pulling open the back doors of the rover and throwing himself inside. Kane picked up the walkie, speaking into it concernedly as I leant against the wall for strength. “Bellamy, what the hell happened?” 

No answer.

“Bellamy? Bellamy!”

Nothing.

“Bellamy, come in!” 

There was crackling on his end but he finally responded, “You were right. The suit’s useless.” 

“You gotta come back in. Bring the rover to the airlock,” Kane told him. 

Just when I thought he might have considered it for a moment, Colton radioed in on the same channel, “Bellamy, it’s Mark. Are you there?” 

“Right here,” he replied, panting. I realised it was no use. He was going to go after them even if it killed him, and at this rate, it very much might. 

“Are you on the move yet?” Mark asked, “Peter doesn’t look so good.” 

Bellamy spoke breathlessly into the radio, “He’s been through worse. We’ll get through this too. I’m on my way.” 

“Copy that, Bellamy. Thanks.”

“Bellamy, go to the private channel,” Kane requested, giving it a moment before changing the channel himself. 

“No more lectures,” Bellamy said firmly, “I can’t find my sister, but I do know where they are.” The rover’s engine thundered into life and he began to pull out of the compound. 

Kane stared out of the door at the place where the rover had been, tilting his head only slightly as it drove out of the gates. “Bellamy, listen to me, no unnecessary risks. You come home safe.” 

“I got this,” he replied. 

I held out my hand and Kane placed the radio into it. “Be careful, don’t die.” A pause. “Please.”

~

Kane and I sat in a room just outside hangar bay, the walkie on the table between us. I tapped my fingers on the table in a steady motion to get me through the radio silence while Bellamy got closer to the Coltons. 

The silence was broken as the radio kicked in and I sat upright so fast my back twinged a little. “Mark. Come in. Coming up on factory station. I’m almost to you, over,” Bellamy announced. Concern laced his voice as he followed it up with, “Guys, do you read me?” _Nothing._ “Don’t go quiet on me now, gonna need a little help navigating once I’m past the wreckage,” he told them. 

“Yeah, I’m here. We’re northwest of the salvage area, at about fifteen degrees,” Mark replied and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived. “Just follow the— Peter!” His walkie was still on as his son groaned in the background, coughing and spluttering. 

“What’s happening? Are you okay?” Bellamy pressed.

Mark’s reply was even more frantic than when he called in originally. “Peter, get below me. Bellamy!”

“Mark, what’s going on?” 

“The wind shifted,” he explained, “The rain is blowing in.” _Shit. Shit. Shit._

Bellamy tried to stay calm, “Okay, you need to find something to use for cover.” 

“There’s nothing here,” Mark sighed, “Look, I’m blocking it from Peter as best as I can. Just hurry. Please!” 

“Look south, you’ll see my headlights in two minutes. I’m—” He got cut off and I gripped the table to keep my hands from shaking. I grabbed the walkie. 

I panted, “Bellamy? Bellamy are you okay?” 

“Bellamy I don’t see the lights,” Mark cried out, “Where are you?”

Trying to stay calm, I tried one more time, “Bell?”

“Just— just a minor delay. Just hang on.” As soon as I heard his voice I let out the breath that I had been holding, handing the radio back to Kane as I put my head in my hands and rested my arms on the table. 

“Bellamy, what happened?” Kane asked worriedly, “Answer. What minor delay?”

“Stuck in the mud. Gonna use the winch to get me out,” he answered firmly. 

Kane stood up, taking a deep breath before replying. “Negative, Bellamy. You have no suit and I can hear the rain over the radio. Please, just… just wait for the storm to pass. Is that clear?” 

The moment he stopped talking, Kane’s voice was replaced by the sound of Peter coughing down the radio and Mark’s agitated cry for help, “Bellamy! Peter needs help now, right now! He can’t breathe!” 

“If you go into that storm, three people die instead of two,” Kane warned him. “You’re out of options. It’s time to let go.”

“You said you’d be here, where the hell are you?” Mark shouted down the radio in a frenzy. 

Kane handed the radio into my open hand as Bellamy asked, “What am I supposed to tell them?” 

“The truth,” I whispered, and I realised he was expecting Kane to answer instead of me, but I heard his breaths even out before he switched the channel. 

“Mark. Peter. I can’t get to you,” he said remorsefully. 

“What? No! We’ll come to you. Please, I can carry him,” Mark pleaded. 

Bellamy picked up the radio again, “It’s too far, Mark. You won’t make it.” 

“We won’t make it here!” he protested,

“Look, I— I am sorry, you just— your only chance is to wait a little longer and when the rain stops I can dig out,” Bellamy replied. 

“My son is dying,” Mark screamed. “He’s dying right now. You said that you would help us. Please!” 

I wiped away the tears forming in my eyes with the back of my hand, listening to Mark’s sobs over the radio as he watched Peter die. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could visualise Bellamy tearing himself apart over not getting there in time. On Mark’s end, the radio went silent, and I knew we didn’t have long before the rover’s power went out. I wanted to say something— anything— to reassure him, but I had no idea what. 

“You should radio Abby and warn her team about the black rain. I’m going to wait by the door,” I stood up, taking a deep breath and walking towards the main entrance. 

“You could be there all night,” he warned me.

I shrugged, “Then I’ll be there all night.”

~

I sat curled up against the wall, a random guard-issued jacket draped around my shoulders. A radio rested in my lap and I had fixed my eyes on the door and refused to move. The radio crackled and my eyes darted towards it, waiting to see if it was just interference or if someone was alive. 

Bellamy’s voice came out quietly, but it was clear enough. “Mark? Peter? The rain’s on its way out. You still with me?” He received no reply. “Mark, come in. Do you read me? As soon as this rain clears I’m out of this ditch and I’m on my way,” he tried to reassure them. 

But there wasn’t anyone on the other end alive for him to reassure. 

“Please tell me that you read me,” he choked. 

Kane answered him, but it wasn’t the answer he wanted. “Bellamy, you did your best.”

“I failed, they’re dead.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Kane whispered. 

Bellamy sighed, “I can’t protect anyone. I couldn’t protect my sister. My responsibility, and I failed. My mom passed out. She was there, she was in my hands. She was so helpless, and now what is she? Is she even alive? What is she? I—” 

I picked up the radio, “You didn’t fail, Bellamy. You did all you could.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“But you’re alive. Don’t give me that shit about not being able to protect anyone, because I’m sorry, but I won’t stand for it. I have seen you save and protect people over and over again. Less than twenty-four hours ago you parked the rover in front of a moving truck full of _hydrazine_ to shoot out the man taking Clarke hostage and save us. If you need me to list every time you have protected someone I will do it, but don’t you dare talk about yourself like that. You did everything you could for everyone, every time, without fail. Including Octavia. You came to the ground for her, but without you, _none_ of us would have survived down here.” I paused, “I remember the day we went on that day trip and we found the guns, and Dax tried to kill you. Once it was all over, we leant against the tree exhausted and you said your mother would be ashamed of you, and that you’re a monster, but that is possibly the furthest thing from the truth that I have ever heard. Your mom would be _so_ proud of everything you’ve done, and how much you’ve helped everyone.”

It was another two hours before he came back, and it was complete pitch darkness outside when he arrived. The rain had stopped completely and left only puddles behind which I tried to avoid as I walked across the compound. Bellamy parked the rover just inside the gate and climbed out. I could tell with each step how exhausted he was, and how much the events of today were eating him up inside. 

The lights flickered, barely producing his silhouette as he walked over. Bellamy came to a stop in front of me, saying nothing. We stood there in silence for a moment before I threw my arms around him, tears leaking from behind my closed eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer and I tried to sync my rapid breathing to his steady heart. _Alive. For now, we were both alive._


	8. Nothing Like A Good Party To Celebrate The End Of The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I have a feeling that this is going to get us very drunk, very fast."
> 
> "What gave you that idea?"
> 
> "The fact that dancing doesn't seem like such a bad option anymore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not much plot in this after the beginning. literally just letting them piss about and have fun. no plot whatsoever, just drinking games and drunk kids. (Yes, I know some of them aren't technically kids but still) literally just 3k words of pure, plotless, drunk friends.

I watched from the sidelines as Jaha led the funeral. A crowd had gathered, but it wasn’t as large as it should have been as some people were still cautious of the black rain. The eighteen bodies were moved in threes onto the funeral pyre.

“I know it took courage to be outside with us today, to stand together now in the face of grave danger and grave tragedy. On the Ark, rain like this was only a dream, but now it’s a nightmare because we know it could turn at any second and kill us. Just like it did to eighteen of our brothers and sisters who we honour today. Among them, Erin, Samuel and Louis. May we meet again,” Jaha said slowly, waiting for the echo of ‘may we meet again’ before he set the pyre alight. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jasper walking casually across the compound and groaned. He looked like he was on a mission, and Jasper on a mission rarely turns out well for anyone. I jogged over to catch up with him and pull him to a stop. He glanced at me, his eyes partially looking to the pyre before shrugging, “Too many funerals, too little time.” 

“Hey, people are grieving. Show some respect,” I sighed. “Where are you going anyway?”

“For what? They’re dead, it’s not like they care,” he spun around in the morning air. “Wherever the day takes me.”

I grabbed his arm, “Absolutely not. You don’t even have a chem tent. You’re not leaving without one.” 

“There’s our chem tent now!” He waved to Bellamy as he walked over.

“He’s trying to leave camp without a tent,” I explained once he had arrived.

Bellamy groaned, “Jasper, no one leaves without one. It’s not safe out there.” 

Jasper paused, “Do _you_ have a chem tent?”

“Of course I have a chem tent.”

He smiled, “Good, then we have a chem tent,” before he turned on his heel and began to walk towards the gate again. “Come on! We’re losing daylight.” Jasper pushed the gate open and turned back, grinning, before walking further away from the camp. 

“It’s not safe out there!” I called after him. 

Jasper shrugged, “What else is new?”

I shot Bellamy a look, “We have to follow him, don’t we.” 

“Jasper! Damn it,” Bellamy jogged after him. “Hey, you need to grow the hell up.” 

I sped up and walked alongside them. 

“Good, you’re coming,” Jasper smiled. 

“Only because we don’t want to have to carry you back in a body bag,” I groaned. 

“Oh come on, I’m pretty light. I mean I’m wiry, but I’m light,” Jasper protested as we reached the treeline. 

I could already tell it was going to be a _long_ day.

~

“I know this is really bad and everything’s dying and all, but I’m just gonna say it— I don’t miss mosquitos,” Jasper shrugged, waving his flashlight about. 

Bellamy sighed, “This is all a big joke to you, isn’t it?”

“Now you’re getting it. That’s exactly what it is, one big cosmic joke,” he laughed. 

“Seriously Jasper,” I looked around, “Where the hell are we going?”

“It’s late. We’re leaving, now,” Bellamy decided, turning around to go back the way we came. 

Jasper groaned, “Damn it. Open your eyes! The clock is ticking, and it has been since we landed on this terrible… beautiful planet.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” I pulled a face, trying to figure out what the hell he was trying to tell us. 

“It means we are living on borrowed time, all of us,” Jasper explained. 

I scoffed, “I know the feeling.” 

“Jasper if you think that, then why are you so hell-bent on throwing it all away?” Bellamy asked him. 

“I’m not,” he laughed. “You are.” Jasper pointed directly at Bellamy, tapping him on the chest. “What is the point in beating yourself up over all of the— the crappy things you’ve done. You did them! And— and don’t say you had reasons, because at the end of the day… at the end of the world, nobody gives a damn about your reasons, because they are _your_ reasons. No matter how much you punish yourself, it’s not gonna change anything. It’s not gonna bring anyone back.” 

It was weird, but I found myself agreeing with him, even though I didn’t say it out loud. We’ve all been through hell and back, and what was it all for? It didn’t matter why anything had happened, but the past is something that we can’t change. 

“The way I see it is we can spend our last days wallowing in our reasons or we can do— we can do whatever the hell we want! Really mean it this time,” Jasper paused and his eyes rested on a plant nearby. “Magic beans. Remember those?” 

Bellamy shined his flashlight on them, “Hallucinogenic nuts. That’s why you dragged us out here?” 

“No thank you, that shit tormented me for months,” I took three large steps back away from the plant. “They can burn in Praimfaya for all I care, I wouldn’t eat them again if you put a gun against my head.” 

Bellamy seconded that, “If you think I’m taking those again, you really are crazy.” 

“Whatever the hell you want,” Jasper laughed as he pulled the knife out of his pocket and began cutting some of the nuts out and pocketing them. 

“Jasper Jordan, you never cease to amaze me,” I muttered, watching him in disbelief as he gathered more and more of the nuts.

He laughed, “The highest of compliments, I’m sure. _Now_ we can get going. Nothing like a good party to celebrate burning in hell.” 

~

I could hear the music coming from the hangar bay even before we went in. I frowned, “You weren’t kidding about that party, huh?”

“I can’t believe they started without us!” Jasper sighed, “Rude.”

Bellamy raised an eyebrow and shot me a look, but I shrugged in response. “Fun,” I laughed. I had never really been one for parties anyway.

“Look, guys,” Jasper put one arm around me and another around Bellamy, “Everyone’s gonna die. The ending is shitty, but who says the _journey_ has to suck?” He grinned, “What’s the point in dying if you haven’t even lived yet?” Jasper turned to the party and shouted, tossing the bag of nuts to Niylah at the bar, “I come bearing fruit!” he cheered, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the crowd.

“Nope, no way. Not happening,” I protested, digging my heels in. 

Bellamy looked around, glancing first at the people sitting sadly at one end of the room, before turning to the party in front of us, which despite my protests, Jasper was still trying to get me to join. 

“At least dance for a bit,” Jasper pleaded.

“I don’t dance,” Bellamy shook his head. 

“I _can’t_ dance,” I laughed. 

Jasper grinned, “A perfect pairing if ever I saw one. Come on, let someone else save the world for once.” He let go of my hand and the reduction in force sent me backwards a few steps, directly into Bellamy’s chest. 

He sighed, “Shall we?” Bellamy held out his arm jokingly like he was about to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day and I snorted. 

“Okay, why not? But I am _not_ dancing,” I warned as he guided me into the crowd. “I will drink though. Drinking is good.” 

Jasper grinned when he saw us, handing out a cup to us each, “A toast, to going out with a bang!” 

I took a cup, rolling my eyes. “Something like that.” My cup chinked against theirs before I raised it to my lips, downing it in one. “Float me, that’s… _quite_ something.” 

“Wow,” Bellamy grimaced as the liquid slid down his throat. “I have a feeling this is going to get us _very_ drunk, _very_ fast.”

Raising an eyebrow, I laughed, “What gave you that idea?”

“The fact that dancing doesn’t seem like such a bad option anymore.”

As if he’d been overheard, the volume of the music increased until I could barely hear myself think. Jasper brought out more drinks, this time in smaller glasses. “Shots?” 

“Shots,” I agreed, tipping the drink into my mouth in a swift movement. “Jasper, is this some elaborate ploy to get us both drunk because you’ve never seen it before?”

His face became completely neutral, “I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.” He paused for a moment, “But I’m going to get us more shots anyway.” 

Jasper reappeared less than a minute later with four more glasses, drinking down two himself and handing the other two to Bellamy and I. Bellamy frowned, “I don’t think this is the best use of our time.”

“Me neither,” I shrugged, tipping the drink into my mouth at the same time as him. 

Not even half an hour later, and somehow Jasper had managed to convince us all to dance with him. I had to admit, not my finest hour. I wasn’t kidding when I said I couldn’t dance, and Bellamy wasn’t kidding when he said he _doesn’t_ dance, but that didn’t appear to stop either of us from messing about and laughing on the dance floor in time to whatever song was playing. It was weird to feel so relaxed when the rest of the world was going to fall to pieces in ten days. Or rather, fall into the fiery depths of a wave of nuclear radiation. Yet here we were, laughing and drinking like it was just a regular celebration. 

Every now and then I’d get the feeling that we could be doing more to help, but then I reminded myself that Clarke, Abby and Raven were trying to make nightblood, and Kane, Jaha and Monty had disappeared off on yet another one of Jaha’s “salvation” expeditions. We had done all we could for now, so why not let loose a little? Okay, so that _may_ have been the alcohol talking since ‘let loose’ isn’t entirely in my vocabulary, but it felt good to not be slowly drowning under the weight of impending doom. 

After the dancing came the party games, and somehow a small crowd of us had made our way back to Harper room. Bellamy, me, Jasper, Niylah, Harper herself, a girl named Lyra and another girl named Bree who I recognised as a member of the hundred, sat in a circle on the floor and passed a bottle between us like a group of high-schoolers on a sleepover. I have to say, I didn’t expect that this was where the night would take us. 

“Okay,” Bree chewed on her lower lip as she drawled, “Two options. Flip, Sip or Strip, _or_ Paranoia. Vote.”

Niylah sighed, “Surely to _vote_ we’d have to know what the options actually involved?”

I rolled my eyes, “I think ‘Flip, Sip or Strip’ is pretty damn self-explanatory, would you say?”

Bree threw her head back and tried not to choke on her laughter, “Votes for Paranoia?” Bellamy, Niylah and I raised our hands. “Flip, Sip or Strip?” Lyra and Harper exploded into giggles as Bree also raised her hand before counting the vote. “Jasper, it all comes down to you, my friend.” 

Jasper laughed, “Why can’t it be both? Both is good. We can start off with Paranoia, and _then_ start the flipping, sipping and/or stripping. Anyone got something to flip?”

Harper pushed a small flat circle into the centre, “Scrap metal. It’s got a scratch on one side so that’s heads.” 

“Resourceful as always,” Jasper commended her. “For those of you who don’t already know, Paranoia is pretty damn simple. We’ll play one round of this before swapping games. First person whispers a question to the person on their _right_ ,” He paused and nudged me and I realised I’d be answering first. “The question has to be answered with a name of someone in this circle. The answer is said _out loud._ The ‘coin’ is flipped and if it lands on heads then the question is announced. If it’s tails, then you will all be left wondering what the question was. Clear?”

On the other side of the circle, Bellamy took a swig of the moonshine bottle, “Crystal.”

“So, Lyss,” Jasper leant in close and lowered his voice. “If they were _down to clown,_ who in this group would you most want to have… sexy times with?” 

“Dear god, Jasper. Just say the word _fuck_ , you don’t have to make it weird,” I groaned out loud, causing a few laughs from the group. I looked around at each individual person. “Harper, but it’s close.”

“Close with who?” he asked curiously, but I only smirked in reply. Even though everyone probably already had managed to guess the question, Jasper flipped the makeshift coin anyway. No scratch. Tails. Harper raised her eyebrows at me suggestively and I almost choked on the moonshine as the bottle was handed to me. 

“How dare you assume I hypothetical kiss and tell, Jasper. Who’s next?” I turned to my right to look at Bree and whisper in her ear, “Who would you most want—”

“Bellamy Blake,” she cut me off, grinning.

I pulled a face, “I didn’t even finish the—”

“Doesn’t matter. Bellamy Blake.” 

Bellamy’s eyebrows shot up and I’m pretty sure some moonshine came out of Lyra’s nose as she laughed and choked, receiving a forceful pat on the back from Niylah. Bree then asked a question to Harper, who replied “Lyss,” with a smile on her face. This time, the coin came up heads, and Harper revealed the question. “If you killed someone, who would you recruit to help bury the body?” 

I laughed, “I’d be very good at covering up a murder.” Someone handed me the bottle and I took a swig, grinning. 

Next up, Harper leant over to Bellamy and asked him a question. “Lyssa,” he answered without hesitation. “But she’d probably be really drunk first.”

“Okay, now I’m interested,” I raised my eyebrows at him and laughed. He flipped the coin. Heads.

“The question was, who is most likely to drag us along for karaoke? I think I was definitely correct on that answer,” Bellamy smirked at me and I leant on Jasper’s shoulder next to me as I laughed. 

Jasper whispered to me, “Someone’s popular tonight. Although for the record, I am _always_ up for karaoke.”

Soon, it was Bellamy’s turn to ask Niylah, to which she replied, “Jasper. Not even a competition.” The coin landed on tails and we were left wondering what she would have picked Jasper for. 

Niylah turned to Lyra who was so overcome with laughter at the question she had been asked, it ended up taking her at least a full minute to calm herself down before answering. “Bellamy. Definitely Bellamy.” When the coin landed on heads, everyone listened intently. “The question was ‘who here is _least_ likely to be a virgin’.” 

Jasper cackled madly, “Can’t argue with _that_. The night Raven’s pod came down he was in the middle of having a threesome.” 

“Believe me, I know,” Bree giggled, hiccuping. “I was one of the girls.” 

Bellamy had apparently forgotten about this because his eyes widened in shock as we all lost our minds laughing. Lyra took over, “Final question. Jasper…” she whispered to him and he made a big show of being _deep_ in thought and looking over at each person in the circle in turn, before sighing dramatically. 

“All good options, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pick myself on this one.”

Harper narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, “Do we even want to know what question that was?” However intrigued we became, the coin left us on tails so we were left remaining blissfully ignorant. “Time for the flipping.”

“Sipping,” Lyra continued.

“And _stripping_ ,” Jasper sang loudly, jazz hands and all. 

Niylah sighed, “What are the rules?”

“Well, someone flips a coin. You guess heads or tails correctly and we pass the coin onto someone else. Guess _wrong_ and you have to either drink, or remove an item of your clothing. It’s simple, really,” Jasper explained. “I’m flipping first. Lyra… get ready.”

“Heads,” she announced firmly. Jasper flipped the coin and revealed it, shaking his head in disappointment. 

“You stripping or sipping?” Harper asked her.

“Stripping,” she revealed, kicking off her shoes, underneath which were definitely more than at least two pairs of socks. “But I play to win, McIntyre.” 

I had to admit, I was substantially impressed. Niylah guessed tails correctly, and Bellamy groaned as he guessed tails _incorrectly_ and shed his jacket. Harper was the first to take a drink, and as Bree guessed incorrectly, giving a small smirk as she pulled her bra out from her t-shirt sleeve, she flipped the coin for me. 

“Heads?” I shrugged, grinning as she revealed that it was, in fact, heads. Flipping the coin for Jasper, he was forced— but not unwillingly— to drink some of the moonshine from the bottle that was getting increasingly more empty. 

He flipped the coin for Lyra and she pulled off a single sock, waving it at the rest of us before placing it in the centre of the circle, which was apparently where the clothes were going to go from now on. When it was Niylah’s turn, she guessed correctly again and I had a sneaking suspicion she might be cheating a little, but said nothing in response. 

Bellamy sighed exasperatedly as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it into the centre, “This game is rigged.”

“You could just drink instead, you don’t have to strip,” I reminded him.

“I’d rather die than have anymore moonshine.” 

I nodded, “Fair.” 

This time Harper was incorrect, leaving her in her sports bra after her tank top also made its way into the middle of the circle. Bree guessed correctly and it was back around to me. I wasn’t as lucky as the first time round and glancing at the moonshine bottle made me feel slightly nauseous so I sighed and shrugged off my jacket instead. 

Jasper took another drink and I wondered how he could possibly stomach it as he flipped the coin for Lyra, who pulled off yet another sock while she grinned madly. Niylah shrugged as her guess of “heads” turned out to be right, and I narrowed my eyes at her. Bellamy lay down flat on his back as he stared at the ceiling while kicking off his boots. I snorted, he seemed so defeated by this game. 

Harper took a drink and Bree guessed correctly, flipping the coin for me as I did the same, but when I turned to face Jasper I realised he had passed out upright, sitting cross-legged and _snoring_ with his head down. I laughed, lying him down and rolling him onto his side in case he puked.


	9. Safety Is But An Illusion, I'm Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please tell me you have some sort of miracle hangover cure?"
> 
> "I do. It's called a cold shower." 
> 
> "But Alpha Station no longer has running water."
> 
> "I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I make a marvel reference at one point.

“I have multiple questions,” Monty announced, leaning in the doorway and folding his arms once he’d flicked on the light. I looked up and tried to recall the events of last night, briefly remembering the dancing, the games, and the moonshine that had led us to this very moment.

This moment being five people half-naked on the floor in a room that apparently _wasn’t_ Harper’s. Some of our clothes were still in a pile in the centre, and when I tried to get up from where I was slumped against the wall I realised something was pressing down on my shoulder. The ‘something’ turned out to be a head belonging to Bellamy Blake, who was apparently still asleep and leaning against me. Jasper and Niylah were nowhere to be seen.

My head was pounding and the bright lights above me made me want to stab someone. Luckily, I was too hungover to be able to bother. “Monty, you know medicine, right? Please tell me you have some sort of miracle hangover cure?”

He sighed, “I do. It’s called a cold shower.”

I frowned at him, “But Alpha Station no longer has running water.” 

“I know,” he deadpanned. 

Lyra sat upright with a start, her hair almost completely in front of her face as she mumbled, “Give me ten minutes to get my shit together. Ten minutes. Tops.” She brushed the hair out of her face in time to puke next to the bed, which Harper had somehow managed to get herself on before passing out. Monty made his way over to his girlfriend and eased her to her feet, 

“Shit, Monty, sorry for completely trashing your room,” I apologised, gently shaking Bellamy to wake him up. He mumbled something along the lines of “five more minutes” before burying his head in my shoulder further to block out the light and causing me to laugh. 

Monty raised an eyebrow, “This isn’t my room. Or Harper’s. It’s _Miller’s._ It took me twenty minutes to find you guys.” 

“He’s going to be so pissed when he gets back,” Harper giggled. 

At that point, Jasper waltzed in with a spring in his step and a cup in his hand. “Anyone want a drink?”

He received a chorus of groans in reply as Lyra swore off ever drinking again.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of me being a functioning human today,” I announced, attempting to nudge Bellamy awake again. This time his eyes flickered open before he tightly squeezed them shut in a feeble attempt to avoid the room’s stark lighting and sighed.

Monty sighed, tossing people back various items of clothing. “Too bad. You have to integrate yourself back into society because Jaha’s giving a speech.” 

“Speech? I’d rather not,” Lyra groaned. 

“Tough. We’ve found the real Second Dawn bunker, so it’s time to hear all about how we’re not going to die in ten days,” Monty revealed. 

Okay, _that_ caught my attention. Bellamy’s as well, as his eyes shot open for real this time and he sat upright, trying to process what Monty had just said. “Shit, we better get up.” I stood up at the same time as him, grabbing onto his arm for support as my head felt like an entire marching band was doing a circuit in it. Not very practical. 

Monty tossed me my jacket and I shrugged it on as he handed Bellamy his jacket and tee. “I still want to know what happened here while I was gone.” 

“We followed Jasper’s philosophy of ‘nothing like a good party to celebrate the end of the world’. I have regrets,” Lyra explained, tapping the side of her head to keep herself awake. “Many regrets.” 

Bree shrugged, appearing from the bathroom and looking like she’d had a full night's sleep and been to a spa in the time it had taken us to get off the floor. “I had fun.” She caught the surprised looks of the others at how well put together she was. “What?” Bree grabbed her jacket from on top of a table and slung it over her shoulder “Ain’t my first rodeo.” 

~

“We are survivors. Which is why, when the fire comes, we will be safe. There is an underground bunker with a filtration system that is still operational. Some of the water will go to the hydroponic farm, isn’t that right, Mr Green?” Jaha pointed at Monty who grinned. 

“Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he paused, lowering his voice and giving Harper a small smile. “Almost.” They laced their fingers together and I smiled at them. 

Jaha continued, “It won’t be easy. There will be plenty of hard work to go around. But together we have struggled, and together we will rise. Pack your things. Just what you can carry. We leave at first light.”

First light? Wait… what time _was_ it? I asked Monty and he laughed, “Nearly four.” 

“ _Float me now_ ,” I groaned as the crowd dispersed, even though I was smiling. “You did good, Green.”

Bellamy put his hands on his hips, “So Jaha was right.”

“Got a lot of gear to pack,” Monty sighed, “Sure you’re not too hungover?” 

“You judging me, Monty?” Bellamy scowled, briefly offended. 

Monty clicked his tongue, “A little.” 

I snorted as Bellamy replied, “There was no hope, now there’s hope. Let’s go.” He began to walk towards the door with Monty and I close behind. 

“Jasper,” Monty called as we walked past him, “You’re going to love it.” 

Jasper raised his cup in response and I realised he hadn’t been listening to a word that was going on. I laughed, “Give him a minute. He’ll figure it out when they take the still.” 

“We don’t need it,” Monty replied. “There’s one in the bunker.” 

We split and I made my way to my room to change my tee and restock my jacket with knives before grabbing my MP3 and headphones and pocketing them. I took one last look at the room and smiled, especially at the various dents in the wall. There was a knock at the door and I turned around to see Bellamy leaning in the doorway, his hair somehow messier than when he woke up this morning. 

“What’s up?” I looked at his concerned face and frowned. 

“Jasper’s ‘party’ has gotten out of hand. Everyone there is willing to die instead of coming with us. They’ve jammed the doors and everything. Jaha wants to blow it open,” he explained. 

I sighed, “Let’s go.” 

Bellamy and I joined the group as they checked the last door, jammed like the others. “This would be the one to blow,” one of the members of The Guard explained. 

“How many gas canisters do we have?” Jaha asked. 

Bellamy glared at him, “You can’t be serious.” 

“In Mount Weather, we beat the gas by using water,” Monty shook his head. “Jasper will be ready for that.” 

“Slow down,” Bellamy pushed through the crowd towards the door, “Let me talk to them.” 

Jaha crossed his arms, “Bellamy we have over four hundred people ready to march.” 

“Give him a minute,” I moved in front of Jaha and shot him a steady glare. 

Bellamy knocked on the door and Jasper noticed, turning the music down and waltzing over with a gun. The soldier who had checked the door tensed, “Gun,” he announced.

I pointed at him, “Asshole.” 

Jaha narrowed his eyes at me, “How is that relevant?”

Rolling my eyes, I deadpanned, “Sorry, I thought we were stating the obvious. My mistake.” 

“It’s Harper’s gun,” Monty cut in. 

“How many more of them are armed?” Jaha asked worriedly. 

Monty shrugged, “I don’t know. A few.” 

Jasper walked over and put his hand flat against the glass. The letters “DNR” were scrawled across his palm in black marker pen. 

“DNR?” The soldier raised an eyebrow.

My face fell, “Do not resuscitate.” 

Bellamy pressed on the comms, “Jasper, put down the gun and open the door.” 

“We’re not coming out,” Jasper shook his head. 

“This is insane,” Monty pushed to the front and moved Bellamy out the way, “Are you really willing to die when there’s a way to live? Are they?”

“That’s just it,” Jasper shrugged, “We don’t think it’s a way to live.”

Harper appeared next to him, “Just go. Please.” 

“We’re wasting time. Set the charge,” Jaha ordered. “You can go to guns. Do not fire unless fired upon.”

My eyes widened, “Like hell you are!” 

The soldier placed the charge on the door but Bellamy refused to move, still trying to talk to Jasper. “Jasper, people will get hurt. I know you care about that,” he pleaded. 

“If you don’t want anyone to get hurt, don’t open the door,” he warned before returning to the party and turning the music up. 

I paused, “I hate to say it, I really do… but he’s right. You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.” 

“We’re all set, we should clear the hall,” the soldier announced. 

I rolled my eyes, “This is going to come out harshly, and I’m not going to apologise in advance. I’d just like you to know that your opinion means jack-shit to me, and your decisions are worthless in this scenario.” 

“No need to be rude,” Jaha scolded. 

Scoffing, I looked around as I thought before replying, “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

Jaha stepped towards the comms to address Jasper, “Mr Jordan. I will not leave children here to die.” 

“You sent them down to die,” Bellamy said frankly. “The difference now is that they have a choice, and so do you.” 

Monty frowned, “What are you talking about?” 

“This is what they want,” he replied. 

“They’re wasted! They don’t know what they want!” Monty snapped, and I could tell how hard this was for him. His best friend and girlfriend were willing to die when the fire comes, even though there’s another way out. 

Jaha sighed, “Stand down. Get ready to move out.” 

The soldier removed the charge from the door and the rest of the group began to leave, leaving just Jaha, Bellamy, Monty and I in front of the door. 

Monty stood in front of Jaha, refusing to let him pass, “You can’t just leave!”

“I’m sorry, son. But they’re right, we can’t save people who don’t want to be saved. They made their choice,” Jaha walked away. 

Monty turned to Bellamy, “If Octavia was in there, would you let her stay?” 

“If Octavia was in there,” his eyes misted up slightly, “At least I’d get to say goodbye.” 

Bellamy stalked off, leaving Monty staring through the glass door. 

~

It was time to leave and I waited with Bellamy as he ushered people in front of him towards the exit. Once the corridor was almost completely empty, Jasper and Harper emerged. “Not too late to change your mind,” he told them, even though it was clear there was no chance of that happening. 

“Yes, it is,” Jasper replied with a small shrug, “You can still stay, you know?”

“I’m not a quitter,” Bellamy smiled and Jasper’s face broke into a grin as he slid his hands into his pockets. 

“Thanks for understanding.” 

Harper looked around, “Where’s Monty?”

“Unloading the rover,” I replied. “We’re leaving it behind for you guys, by the way. Did he not say goodbye?”

She shook her head sadly, “Take care of him for us, will you?”

“You know I will,” Bellamy promised.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” I smiled.

Bellamy gave Harper a hug and I wrapped my arms around Jasper to say goodbye. “Don’t do anything too stupid,” I whispered. 

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you,” Jasper grinned, letting me go. “Be careful, don’t die.”

I shrugged, “I’d say the same, but you wouldn’t listen, would you?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he laughed.

“May we meet again, Jasper Jordan,” I pulled him in for another hug as I bit back tears. 

He gave me a small smile and a pat on the shoulder, “We won’t.” 

I swapped with Bellamy and it was his turn to say goodbye to Jasper as I hugged Harper. “Monty’s my boy,” I reassured her, “I won’t let anything bad happen to him. Not now, not ever.” 

“May we meet again,” she whispered before letting me go. 

I sighed, “I wish that were true.” 

As Bellamy released Jasper I took a step back. “May we meet again,” Bellamy told him. 

“We won’t,” Jasper repeated, but Bellamy managed to muster a smile. 

“Whatever the hell you want,” he turned around and I glimpsed Jasper giving us a small mock salute before he left. I sent one back, facing the exit before I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. They mixed with the rain (thankfully it wasn’t black rain, but it could turn at any minute) and did nothing to wipe them away. 

Once we were clear of the station, I spotted Monty hovering around by the gate and waiting. I frowned, he didn’t have any supplies with him. “Monty?” 

He managed a small smile when he saw us, “I’m not coming.” 

“What? Why?” Bellamy reeled back, shocked. 

“I’m staying in case they change their minds. I’ll leave before the radiation comes and meet you at the bunker, but for now, I’m waiting with them,” Monty explained. 

I wrapped him in a hug and buried my face in his hoodie, “Don’t leave it too late, promise?”

“Promise,” he whispered, squeezing me tight. “I can’t leave them here, not yet. I love them.” 

“We’re family. And they’re part of that. We love them too, and we love you,” I released him. “Be careful, don’t die.” 

~

Polis was chaos, and it was safe to say all hell had broken loose. According to Clarke, there was to be a conclave to decide which clan got the bunker. One warrior from each fight until there’s only one left. Winner’s clan takes the bunker. I looked out over the city. 

Without guns, and without anyone trained in Grounder combat, we were pretty much screwed. I kept trying to volunteer myself because hey, if no one else is gonna do it then I might as well. I have more than enough knives for each of the twelve other clans, but according to Clarke I’m not “fully healed” from the shrapnel injury, and it’s “unsafe”. 

Like anything I ever do is safe. 

We were out of hope. That is, until Octavia turned up.


	10. The Final Conclave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are you supposed to be back here?"
> 
> "No, but that's never stopped me before."

“You think she’s got a shot?” Bellamy whispered to me as Octavia pushed through the crowd to get to the stage, accepting the sigil of Skaikru to fight as our champion. 

I ignored Gaia as she described the event, already knowing everything that I needed. “I think… this is Octavia, she won’t go down fighting, because she won’t go down at _all._ If anyone has a shot at winning this for us, it’s her.”

“The champions will fight until only one remains,” Gaia announced. “When that warrior collects all of the sigils from the fallen and delivers them to me, they will be declared the victor. This final champion alone will tell us which champion is meant to survive in the crypt of Becca Pramheda, and which clans are meant to perish in Praimfaya.”

Attempting to be reassuring, I nudged him. “Octavia’s a fighter, she can do this.”

 _“We honour those who fall by the sword… but follow the One who wields it best,”_ Gaia spoke in Trig. 

_“That would be me,”_ a familiar voice replied, louder than the murmurs of the audience. Luna marched towards the stage and up the steps, standing in front of Gaia. “I’m Luna kom Floukru. And I’m the last of my clan.”

Gaia narrowed her eyes at her, “We know who you are— the Natblida who ran from her conclave.” 

“I’m not running from this one,” Luna assured her as Gaia picked up the sigil and draped it around her neck. 

“Accept this sigil, Luna kom Floukru. But with your clan gone, who will you fight for?” 

Luna stepped forwards, “I fight for no one. I fight for death. When I win, no one will be saved.”

I was taken by surprise, “Fuck.” This just got even more intense than it already was. I still had faith in Octavia, lots of it. But she had her work cut out for her. Roan and Luna were survivors, and they weren’t going to go down easily. 

Only two people from each clan were allowed to stay in the tower to watch the conclave. Which meant I had about two minutes before their pep talk to visit Octavia without anyone noticing. I found her stocking up with weapons in the area where all the other warriors were training. 

“I’ve got two minutes. I’m not here to give you a pep talk, because I know you don’t need one. I also know that you’re going to kill this either way—” I cut myself off, pausing, “Okay so maybe that was a pep talk in itself, but that’s not the point. I just wanted to say, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to be doing this, and I’m glad it’s you. Nice war paint, it’s Lincoln’s, isn’t it?”

Octavia nodded, smiling a little. “It is. And thank you.”

“I’ve got to go, I don’t think I’m supposed to be down here…” I shrugged, “Bellamy and Kane will be on their way soon, and I think Indra was planning on paying you a visit. I trust you completely, knock ‘em dead."

“What, no ‘be careful, don’t die’?” She laughed hollowly. 

“No need to,” I winked, turning around and almost bumping into Indra as she appeared behind me. “I trust you.”

I almost ran into Roan on my way out, it was only fitting that he be the Azgeda warrior. He raised an eyebrow at me, “Are you supposed to be back here?”

“No, but that’s never stopped me before. It’s a shame there’s only one winner, I wouldn’t have minded spending five years in a bunker with you— you’re not half bad,” I nodded at him. 

He laughed, “Is that a high compliment?”

“Coming from me, yes. I respect you, Roan. You’re my kind of dude. Thanks for saving my ass back there on the truck, wicked entrance by the way,” I smiled, referring to the hydrazine transport trip. 

“You’re not… that bad either,” he shrugged, “I’ve met worse people.”

I echoed his words, “Is that a high compliment?”

He did the same, “Coming from me, yes. I wish your clan luck.”

“We don’t need luck, but I appreciate the gesture. Knock ‘em dead,” I told him. “Everyone but Octavia, that is.” I raised two fingers to my head in a mock salute before winking and disappearing out of the way I’d come in. It was too bad he was going to die in the conclave, if we’d met in different circumstances I had a feeling we’d have been one hell of a team. Both with considerable flair for the dramatics. Although he always seemed to stand like he was waiting to be ambushed by the paparazzi for a photoshoot, which I could never understand. 

I got outside just as Gaia addressed the others, blending into the crowd like I had been there the entire time. “Skaikru, two advisors to the worgeda. The rest of you, report to your designated safe zone, now.” 

“Come on, we have to get her ready,” Kane nodded at Bellamy and the two of them were about to set off when Jaha grabbed Kane’s arm. 

“This conversation isn’t over,” he hissed. “The death wave will be here within three days, and here we are, risking the fate of our people on a blood sport?”

Clarke stepped in, “The fate of all people. You heard Luna.”

“She’s just one of thirteen,” Kane replied. 

“You’re wrong,” Clarke explained. “She’s a nightblood novitiate, which means she trained in combat exactly like this.”

“You want us to cheat?” Bellamy lowered his voice. Clarke couldn’t seem to be able to answer.

Kane shot her a look, “You know the rules. If we break them, we lose, and if we lose, we die.” 

“The rules are not the problem, Marcus.” Jaha said quietly, “The game is. Even if we stop Luna, even if Octavia finds a way to win, does anyone truly believe that the Grounders will accept Skaikru as the lone survivors?”

“Yes,” Kane said firmly.

I didn’t need to know what they had been talking about before I got here, but I knew I had an opinion on it. “This is their way, Jaha. They honour their traditions.”

“The conclave is sacred,” Kane reassured him. “They’ll honour the winner. Like it or not, we’re all Grounders now. You get our people to the safe zone. We’ll have Octavia ready for the fight. The rest is— the rest is up to her.” 

Bellamy turned to Clarke, “You should go with him. I wouldn’t know what to say to her.” 

Clarke shook her head, “I have to help my mom get the bunker ready for whoever wins. Besides, you’re her brother. You not being there is worse than saying the wrong thing.” 

I agreed. “Clarke is right. You got this, she’s got this, we’re all gonna kick some ass. Some of us more literally than others, in Octavia’s case. Go,” I sent a smile in his direction and he nodded, following after Kane into the area where the warriors were preparing. Clarke began to walk towards the entrance to the temple to get to the bunker and I followed her. “Can I help set up the bunker? I can’t handle just waiting in a bloody safe zone and not knowing what’s going on. At least I can still be useful this way.” 

She nodded, “Sure… My mom needs a hand. I have to talk to Jaha for a bit when we get inside, so could you meet her in the medbay area?”

“I have no idea where that is, but I’m sure I’ll find it,” I laughed, “Just to be on the safe side… can you point me in the right direction first?”

~

I helped Abby organise the blankets and medicines before leaving to find Clarke and tell her that it was finished, ready to ask if they’d heard anything from above about the conclave, and if there was anything else I could do. I paused just outside the door, overhearing the tail end of a conversation with Jaha. 

“So it’s decided?” He asked her, “We bring in our people?”

Clarke sighed, “We bring in our people. Send someone to get Bellamy and Kane, but we have to get Octavia too— not yet though, it would arouse suspicions if she disappeared from the competition. Are you sure this is the only way?”

“It is. We have no way to know if Octavia will win the conclave, and at this point, we can’t risk it. The human race has to survive, and this plan allows us to do that,” Jaha pressed. 

“This bunker allows twelve hundred people! We only have four hundred, there has to be another way, there has to,” She pleaded. “I know this was my idea but…” 

Jaha disagreed, “There isn’t. If you want us to survive, then this is it.” 

“Once we close that door there’s no going back,” she said quietly. “We have to be sure about this.”

“I’m sure about what is necessary to protect _our people._ Clarke, are you?” He asked with such a tone I knew she would be forced to agree. 

I hadn’t been expecting Jaha to open the door. If I had, I would’ve made it less obvious that I had been eavesdropping. I stood there, mouth agape, wondering what the hell was about to happen. Clarke’s eyes widened when she saw me, “Alyssa, I can explain—”

“Explain what? That you’re about to condemn all of the other clans? There are eight hundred available spots in this bunker, and you’re going to waste them because you’re scared of what’s going to happen? Don’t you have any faith in Octavia at all?” I was horrified, I shook my head and backed away. _I had to warn them. I had to warn them. This wasn’t right._

“There is no other way!” Jaha pressed, “Our people are a priority!” 

I stood my ground, “We are on the ground, which makes _us_ Grounders. You heard what Kane said. They are _all_ our people. We have allies out there, and you want to leave them to die? I can’t let you do that.” My hand moved to the knife at my hip somewhat of its own accord, but I couldn’t deny that a decision had to be made. “Kane and Bellamy would never agree to this.” 

“They don’t know. Not yet,” Clarke glanced at the door to the exit and I knew she was calculating how many steps it would take for me to get there and for her to get in my way. “Please, Alyssa, it doesn’t have to be like this.” 

“Funny,” I pulled the knife out and tightened my grip on it, “I was about to say the same thing.” 

Footsteps behind me caught my attention and I spun around just in time to see the shock baton before it hit me, my vision exploding into sparks as I took the volts of electricity in my side. I fell to the ground, shaking and gasping for breath. Shaking it off, or at least attempting to, I tried to see who had managed to get the drop on me. 

“I’m sorry, Lyss. It’s the only way,” Miller whispered. 

“So much for the hundred,” I spat, wholeheartedly disgusted with what my friends had done… what they’d become. “I thought you were better than this, clearly I was wrong.” The darkness that had been creeping up on me slowly closed off all my senses as I fell unconscious, my friends’ apologetic faces the last thing I saw. 

~

I woke up in a holding cell of sorts, chained to the wall by large shackles. I grunted, trying to break free. The chains tore into my wrists and blood dripped onto my fingers as I tried to get out. “No. No. No! Godammit, _no_!” I screamed, but it only made it worse. There wasn’t even the material of my jacket to shield my wrists as they must have taken it. My friends betraying me hurt even more at the fact they knew me so well while doing it. “You’re making a mistake!” I shouted, looking at the jacket which was on the far side of the room, too far for me to reach. “You can’t do this!” I pleaded, “Please…” 

Bellamy, Kane and Octavia were out there. And they had no idea what kind of mess we were in.


	11. Big Decisions And Even Bigger Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This is a shitty plan." 
> 
> "It worked, didn't it?"
> 
> "Don't EVER do that again."

“Miller you son of a bitch,” I tried to scream but tears flowed from my eyes in frustration and it took all I had not to break down sobbing. “I trusted you! Do you have any idea how hard that was? I trusted you!”

“I’m sorry it had to turn out like this,” he called in from the other side of the door. 

I wiped my hand across my face, attempting to get the hair and sweat off my forehead but really just smearing myself in blood. “Rot in hell!” 

_“I’ll kill you,”_ I spat in Trig, collapsing against the wall in exhaustion. 

“I don’t know what you’re saying, Lyss,” he replied defeatedly. 

Somehow, I found myself laughing, “Good. Float you.” 

At this point my wrists were in agony, rubbed completely raw and bleeding from where I’d tried to get rid of the chains and the zip-ties they had used to secure my hands together. What I wouldn’t give to have telekinesis at this point. I quick swipe of my bleeding hand and my jacket would fall at my feet, letting me cut the ties and escape. That, and there’s a hell of a lot of people I wouldn’t mind ‘floating’ right about now.

I looked around for something to use. It looked as if I was in the turbine room, and I tried to see if there was any hope of escape. Miller had the keys outside, and it was hopeless getting him to release me. He was too far gone at this point. “Dammit!” 

“Alyssa, please. You’re not helping yourself. You’re not helping anyone,” Miller pleaded through the locked door. 

“To think, we were friends. Close friends, even. Both part of Bellamy’s firing squad when we first landed, funny that? We had each other’s backs. Oh, how the tables have turned.” No response. “You still there?” Nothing. “Brilliant, leave me down here alone with my own thoughts, fuck, I might as well already be dead,” I spat. 

I kicked the wall, desperate. There had to be a way, any way. The door opened and my eyes widened in shock as Miller dragged an unconscious Bellamy in and tied his hands in the same way they had mine. I leant down next to him, checking his pulse. Miller finished with the chains and began to walk back to the door. “It’s fine, we just shocked him.” 

I flipped him my bloody middle finger, “If I’m still alive after Praimfaya hits, make no mistake, I will come at you with everything I have you betraying piece of shit.” 

Bellamy chose that moment to begin to wake up, and once Miller checked to make sure his chains were secure, he left before Bellamy could shake away the grogginess. “Where the hell am I?” he whispered, before remembering what had happened. “Son of a bitch!” he cursed. 

“Already said that,” I muttered. 

“So much for the hundred!” He shouted at Miller through the door, pulling on his chains.

“That too.”

His eyes flickered over to me, as if he’d only just realised I was there. “Lyss? Why are you—”

“I found out, flipped out, tried to kill Jaha, threatened to kill everyone else… no point in pulling on the restraints, tear them in that direction and you’ll slice through an artery. If you want to try getting them off, you’re better off slicing through ‘em with something sharp.”

Bellamy paused, “Where’s your jacket?”

“They’ve thought of everything, you won’t reach it,” I nodded to the door, next to which my jacket was laying. “Not without dislocating something in the process. It’s useless, Bellamy. It’s over. I’ve been trying for hours I think, I’m not even sure because time is dragging on in here so much I haven’t even been able to count. Fuck, I even tried seeing if making my hands sweaty and bloody would help me slide them out, to no avail. So now I’m bound _and_ in pain, the perfect duo.” 

“It’s over when I say it’s over,” he tore against the restraints in the same way I had, his wrists becoming red and bloody and painful as all hell. “My sister is out there. She didn’t win the conclave just for this to happen.” 

I sighed in relief, “She won? I knew it. I knew she would. Clarke must feel like shit right about now. Did you know this was her idea?” I paused, “Actually, when _did_ you find out?” 

“Echo was cheating and I was on my way back from dealing with her when someone drugged me and brought me in. I woke up in the office with Clarke and Jaha,” he explained, sitting down and trying to use his feet to push the chains off, something I hadn’t thought of yet. “Help me!” Bellamy screamed, “Let me OUT!” 

“It’s no use, believe me— it’s not like I haven’t been trying. I have been doing my best to tick off Miller enough so that he’ll come inside and I can grab the keys, but he’s been standing there and taking every second of it. I hate it,” I told him. 

Bellamy kicked the pipe that had the chains around it before sitting back down and pushing his feet against the wall to push away to try and get the restraints off. “Damn it! You work on mine, I work on yours?” He suggested, trying to find a way, any way, to get out and rescue Octavia. He groaned as fresh blood dripped from his hands, splattering the metal chains. 

“Bellamy, stop!” I pleaded, “You’re hurting yourself, please stop,” I rested my head against the cold hard wall behind me. “Please.”

“I’m not leaving her out there. Praimfaya comes in two days, Octavia will die! I’m not letting it happen,” he continued to struggle.

“Please! You can’t help her if you’re dead. You can’t just bleed out on the floor of this stupid bunker, it doesn’t help anyone, especially not Octavia. I can’t watch you do that,” I whispered, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. 

The door swung open but this time it wasn’t Miller. “Bellamy, what the hell are you doing? You’re just hurting yourself,” Murphy told him. He glanced at me, “Lyss, you too.”

“If you want to stop me, you’re going to have to kill me,” I whispered. “Because we are getting out of here.”

“Not if you kill yourself first, Jesus,” he sighed, throwing his arms up. 

Bellamy staggered to his feet, “Murphy. Murphy, untie me. Please.”

“I can’t do that,” he replied. 

“Murphy I told you if you ever betrayed my trust, I’d kill you. Remember that? I’m pretty sure keeping me a prisoner is a fucking _trust violation_ , don’t you?” I snapped, using the wall to push myself to my feet. Miller… he was hard to crack. But I think by now I definitely knew how to push his buttons. “Can’t save Emori if you’re dead,” I sing-songed.

His hands clenched into fists and I knew I’d struck a nerve. “Leave Emori out of this.” 

“There are people in this bunker, Skaikru people, that you are going to be trapped with for five years. Some of those people hate Grounders. Do you really think that her and Niylah will be safe? They’ll be the first to go. They will never trust you, Murphy,” I goaded him. 

“Lyss, I know you’re mad, but I’m not going to fight you.” John Murphy backing down from a fight? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see. He turned to Bellamy, “Look, I’m sorry about your sister—”

Bellamy charged at him, yanked back by the chains at the last minute, “You let me go!” 

“Hey, I can’t, okay?” Murphy tried to reason with him. “Okay, I can’t. We can’t open that hatch.” 

Bellamy grunted, pulling on the chains as more fresh blood covered his hands. I watched him carefully, “Bellamy, your hands.” 

“I don’t care,” he snapped. “Murphy you have to open that door!”

“I can’t,” Murphy repeated himself. “Stop doing this to yourself before I call medical and knock your ass out.” 

Bellamy kicked the wall, pushing away from it frustratedly and slamming his fists into the other side, leaving bloody prints there. “You haven’t changed. You only care about yourself.” 

“You’re wrong,” Murphy said firmly. “Look, this is only going to be for a few days.” 

“She’ll be _dead_ in a few days!” he screamed. 

“Yeah,” Murphy said quietly. “I’m sorry.” He walked out, leaving us in there. The floor had tiny drops of blood smeared on it and it had mixed with the sweat produced while we tried to get out. No use. I didn’t want to give up, I never want to give up… but sometimes you have to pick your battles, and this might be one of those times. Can’t win the war if you’re dead. 

Bellamy screamed, pulling on the chains and cursing when they didn’t give. “Let me out!” 

“Bellamy, your hands,” I pleaded. He continued to pull but it got worse and worse, and despite my better judgement, and the glares he was giving me as a result, I began to shout. “Murphy get your _ass_ in here before he dies!”

Murphy opened the door and took one look at him, “Shit, I’ll radio Abby.”

“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered to Bellamy, “You are going to get yourself killed.”

“I’m getting us out of here,” he said calmly, sitting down and leaning against the wall. “Abby will come, and she will get us out of here. Kane’s out there and she loves him, it’ll work.” 

“Look, I did this to myself trying to escape, and you’re doing it because of some master plan you have? Getting out of here is good, but you can’t destroy yourself in the process,” I hissed. 

He sighed, “Lyss, I know what I’m doing.”

I glared at him, “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” 

Abby came in with her medkit and stared at the pair of us in disbelief. “What were you trying to accomplish here?”

“It’s about time,” Bellamy stood up to greet her. “I didn’t do this to my wrists for fun.”

She got out her kit and looked between us, I made her decision easier. “Him first, he has a habit of not knowing his own damn limits.” 

“You want me to help you open the door,” she realised. 

“Abby, I saw your face when you heard my sister’s voice on the radio. Kane’s out there,” he pleaded with her. 

“You think I don’t know that?” She snapped at him.

Bellamy sighed, “Do better today than we did yesterday. That’s what he told me. That’s how we deserve to survive.” 

“But first,” I cut in, “Wounds. Now.” She unlocked Bellamy first and treated his wrists, bandaging them before moving on to me. “This is a shitty plan,” I whispered.

“It worked, didn’t it?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Dammit Bellamy,” I punched him in the arm and he pulled a face, “Don’t _ever_ do that again.” 

Bellamy tossed me my jacket and I slipped it on, happy to find out that everything was still in its place, despite losing the knives from my boots and thigh holster, at least these ones were still good to go. “Let’s hope I don’t have to,” he replied. “Now we need to take down Murphy.”

“Leave it to me,” I smiled. “I need a win today.” 

I moved into the shadows, ready to pounce. “Don’t kill him,” Bellamy hissed and I rolled my eyes. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” 

“John? I need you, come quick!” Abby shouted and Murphy burst through the door at lightning speed. He took one glance at the space where we had been sitting, chained, and I jumped on him from behind, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arm around his neck in a headlock. 

“Surprise, bitch,” I whispered as he slowly lost consciousness. I laid him down on the floor slowly, ignoring Bellamy’s disapproving look. “What? He’ll be fine.”

“He’s not our problem,” Abby reminded us. “The airlock control is in the main office. So is Jaha. You have a plan for that too?” 

“Yeah,” Bellamy nodded, picking up the shock baton that Murphy had dropped when I surprised him. 

I rolled my eyes, “This plan, care to fill me in this time?” 

“Open the door, or die trying. Are you in? It’s going to be dangerous, possibly suicidal,” he warned. 

I shot him a look, “Of course I’m in. Have you _met_ me?” 

We made our way carefully towards the office, avoiding members of The Guard— especially Miller— as we did so, before splitting up once we got closer so that Bellamy and I could wait behind the side door. Abby was going to let us in once she got inside. 

She made good on her word. Once we were let in, Bellamy reassured her. “Octavia won’t let anything happen to Clarke, and neither will I.” 

“I won’t either, I mean I might slap her— I’m being honest here, this was a bad move— but judging by the amount she’s probably tearing herself up over this situation right now, I probably won’t,” I told Abby truthfully. She nodded, understanding where I was coming from but not completely agreeing to let it happen, which I respected. 

Abby sat down at the control panel, reading through the instructions. “It takes two people to open the doors. One from above, and one from here. Get into position. Now.” 

We nodded. Bellamy rushed through the door and onto the stairs next to the hatch, while I stood guard to fight off anyone who might stop us. The last person I expected to have to fight was Clarke, although in hindsight I should’ve seen it coming. 

“Bellamy, stop,” she warned him, clicking off the safety on her gun. He froze, watching her in disbelief. 

I stood in the way, hands raised, “I can’t let you do this, Clarke.” 

“We don’t have time for this,” he pleaded, “The radiation is getting worse and people are dying up there!” Bellamy made a move to go up the stairs further but Clarke fired a warning shot above his head. He backed away slightly, raising his hands to protect his head. “Clarke, what are you doing?” 

“What I have to, like always,” she whispered, her hand shaking as she tried to hold the gun steady. “Now, get away from the door.”

“No. This isn’t like shutting the dropship door or pulling the lever in Mount Weather, or in the City of Light. We knew what we were stopping then. Now we know nothing,” he told her.

We were running out of time. 

She took a step closer to him, holding the gun and I stayed still. I couldn’t let her do this, but at the same time, would she really go through with it? She wouldn’t shoot him. She couldn’t. “We know that if that door stays shut, the human race survives,” her breaths became uneven as she tried to control herself, her eyes filling with tears at the possibility of shooting him. “Please.”

I wasn’t sure what to do. 

Bellamy stayed calm on the surface, but I knew he was hating every second of this. “You’re gonna have to make it a kill shot,” he told her firmly. “It’s the only way you’re going to stop me.” 

Clarke’s hand began to shake even more as she sobbed, finally dropping the gun as she closed her eyes, tears dripping from them. Bellamy opened the hatch, pushing it up completely and sticking his head out. 

I turned to Clarke, “What we’re doing right now is the right thing,” I reassured her. 

“We’re sending three hundred of our people to die. They thought they were safe… it’s going to be chaos,” she whispered, already trying to plan ahead. 

I gave her a small smile, “Some of our best decisions were made in chaos.” 

~

Once everyone from the other clans was inside, it was time to choose who lived… and who died. Raven radioed, something about having almost died but she’s good now, so we have to go and get her. 

“We’re going to get Raven. Not even a question,” I said firmly. 

Jaha stood in the way of the door, looking out at the people. “You call this justice?” 

“I call this making things right,” Octavia said slowly. “Thanks to my brother.” 

He turned to Clarke in disbelief, “You _let_ this happen? How many of us have to die?” 

“You’re lucky it’s not all of you,” Indra glared at him. 

“Lucky?” I felt like Jaha would’ve snorted if he knew how to laugh. 

Kane looked at him, “We have one hundred spots. The other clans have all… Have all chosen their survivors. We have to do the same.”

“A hundred?” Jaha whispered in disbelief. 

I groaned, “Anyone else getting déjà vu?” 

“We have over four times that amount,” he continued. 

Octavia shook her head, “A pain that all clans feel.”

Jaha turned to Clarke, “Is this what you wanted?” 

“No one wanted this,” she replied. 

“Want’s got nothing to do with this,” Octavia snapped. “Skaikru gets a hundred beds, same as everybody else. Bellamy gets one of them, the rest is up to you. The death wave comes in twenty-four hours. You’ve got twelve to decide.” 

“Right,” I stood up, changing the subject. “When do we leave for Raven and who’s coming with me?”


	12. Let's Go Get Our Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "But you insulted my driving, and then you crashed the fucking car. I find this hilarious. I'm never letting you live this down."

“Hang in there,” Abby said into the radio to Raven on the other side. “We’re sending a team to come and get you today.”

“You’re sure about this?” her voice echoed back, laced with uncertainty.

“Yes. We need you not just for the hundreds of things we know you can fix, but for the thousands we haven’t even thought of yet,” Abby reassured her.

I tapped the radio, wordlessly asking for it. Abby handed it over and I spoke into it. “Reyes, we’re coming for you. You can quote me on that, okay? I would die before leaving you to die.” I handed the radio back to Abby as Raven sighed through it. 

“Thank you.”

“We’re just glad you’re okay,” she told her. 

“You’ll be too. My brain is healing,” Raven said, relieved. “The seizures have stopped. When I get there, we use the same procedure on you, you’ll be cured.”

Kane leant over the desk in concern, “Cured?”

I pulled a face, “I’m gonna be… I’m gonna be out there… if you need anything…” I slowly backed towards the door but it was opening at the time and I crashed into Bellamy as he walked in. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Tried to escape an awkward conversation, forgot to look where I was going.” 

“Our people are scared, Marcus. We need to tell them something,” Jaha warned as he followed in Bellamy and Clarke. 

“We just spoke with Raven,” Kane informed him. “When she gets here, we’ll have all our essential personnel.” 

Clarke nodded, “How many spots does that leave us with?” 

“Including essential personnel, and the places we are holding for the children under sixteen… that leaves us with eighty,” Abby confirmed.

“Eighty…” she trailed off. 

Jaha sighed, “I can’t believe we’re talking about sending three hundred and sixty-four of our own people to their deaths.” 

“We’re lucky they’re giving us any space in this bunker at all,” Clarke reasoned with him. 

I shot Jaha a glare, “You seemed perfectly fine with sending one hundred kids to their deaths about a year ago?” 

“There’s only so many times you can guilt us about that one, Miss Jones. You can’t still be bitter,” he chastised me. 

“I’m not bitter,” I said bitterly, with a bitter face as he brought back all of the feelings of bitterness I had originally felt in the first place. 

Bellamy raised an eyebrow at me but I scowled back as Kane took charge of the room. “Look, I don’t like it any more than you do,” he told them.

“Then let’s fight this!” 

“No. Any sort of resistance will cost us all our lives,” Kane warned him. “Our best course of action is to hold a lottery for the remaining spots.”

“As someone who is literally _always_ ready for a fight, listen to me when I say this isn’t a fight you want to start,” I shrugged. 

“It’s not going to work, Marcus,” Jaha said sternly as he leant on the desk. 

Kane looked at him blankly in response, “It was _your_ idea.”

“That was for the _chance_ to survive!” He protested. “Up until twenty-six minutes ago, our people thought they were safe. They let their guard down. They picked their bunks. They unpacked their bags. They _imagined_ their _futures._ You try to rip that from them now and, believe me, they will fight.” 

Bellamy watched him intently, “You sound like you want a war?” 

“No one is saying that this is going to be easy,” Kane tried to calm down the former chancellor. “But we need to make people listen to reason.”

“Someone still needs to get Raven,” Bellamy reminded them. “I’d like to volunteer.”

I nodded, “I’ll do it. I’m coming.” 

“And I’ll join you,” Clarke nodded. 

“No, someone else can go with him,” Abby shook her head. 

Clarke looked at her, “Mom, look, Raven needs our help. I know the way to the island. I need to do this.”

“Well, you be safe,” responded Kane. “There’ll be a place for all three of you when you get back.” 

“I’ll meet you in the airlock,” Abby told Clarke and she nodded before leaving, Bellamy following after her. He frowned at me as he left but I smiled at him to continue. 

Kane raised an eyebrow when he realised I wasn’t following them just yet. “Alyssa?”

“I’m gonna make this easier on you. I have zero intention of coming back. However, you are not going to tell them that before we leave. Take my spot, give it to someone who needs it,” I informed them before heading to the door. 

“Are you sure? Do you want to think this through a little more?” Kane put a hand on my shoulder but I pushed him off. 

“I didn’t want to be on Clarke’s list then, and I don’t want to be on this one now. I’ve thought it through plenty,” I reassured him. “No matter what happens, you are _not_ to tell the others. If they ask what this conversation was about, tell them I wanted to warn you about a leaky pipe I noticed in the turbine room.” I turned on my heel and pushed open the door to the airlock.

After a moment, Abby followed. Bellamy shot me a look but I plastered on a smile in response and grabbed one of the suits, pulling it on over my clothes. “Now, at these radiation levels any amount of exposure is harmful,” Abby warned. “Keep the suit sealed at all times. You have twenty-three hours until the death wave hits.” 

Bellamy looked at me, trying to figure something out, “What was that about?”

“Saw a leaky pipe during our dramatic escape from the turbine room. Thought I’d warn them,” I shrugged, holding out my hands so that he could help me secure the gloves. 

“On a good day it takes ten hours to get to the island and ten hours to get back,” Abby cautioned, “That doesn’t leave much room for error.”

Clarke looked at her reassuringly, “Mom, I know, okay? We’ll be careful.” 

“I love you, Clarke,” Abby told her, “Don’t ever forget that.” 

“This isn’t goodbye,” Clarke frowned. “Mom, I know what you saw in that vision, but I’m a nightblood now, right? Maybe it worked?”

“Clarke, listen to me,” Abby smiled, “I told you there were no good guys, but that’s not true. There are. _You_ are.” She brushed a piece of hair away from her daughter’s face before pulling her into a hug. 

Clarke paused, glancing at Bellamy for a moment, “Even though I didn’t want to open the door?”

“Yes. There was no good choice,” Abby assured her. 

“There never is,” she whispered.

I grinned, trying to hide the fact that I was mildly terrified that we were all going to die within the next twenty-three hours. “Right, who’s ready for a road trip? I’ll drive,” I winked.

Bellamy’s eyes widened, and I could tell that the thought of me driving scared him monumentally more than the end of the world ever could. He shook his head furiously, “Absolutely not. We are planning on surviving this trip!” 

“Fine,” I scowled, happy to have lifted the mood for a fraction of a second as Clarke laughed, “But I call shotgun.” 

“Take care of each other,” Abby nodded at us. 

Bellamy smiled, “Yes Ma’am.”

“You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to these guys,” I reassured her. 

The door opened and I spun around, surprised to see Murphy and Emori shutting it behind them. “You got room for two more?” Murphy asked sheepishly. 

“What the hell?” I raised an eyebrow and Murphy raised his hands in surrender, causing me to laugh. “Dire circumstances called for even more dire actions, I’m not gonna kill you,” I promised. 

“Murphy, what are you doing here?” Bellamy asked him. 

He revealed, “We heard you were going after Raven. We just want to help.”

“I’ve been to that island dozens of times,” Emori explained. “No one knows the water better than me.” 

Murphy raised an eyebrow suggestively, “Maybe it’ll help our chances if we bring home the chosen ones?” 

“There’s a lottery,” Abby informed him. “I’ll make sure that your name is in it.” 

“And Emori?” Murphy prompted.

Abby sighed, “I’ll do the best I can.”

I looked at her, “Give her _someone_ else’s spot. She deserves to stay here.” 

“I’ll do the best I can,” Abby repeated herself. “I promise.” 

They suited up and we got ready to leave. Bellamy frowned at me again, “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“The look you gave Abby just now, what was that for?” He pressed.

I shrugged, denying it, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Come on, Raven’s waiting for us.” 

We climbed out of the bunker and shut the door behind us. Bellamy caught Murphy as we were leaving the temple, “What are you really up to, Murphy?”

“You killed us when you opened that door. You know that, right? What, did you think our people are going to waste a spot on Emori? On me? We were safe, and you screwed us. You want to know what we’re up to? It’s called surviving. There’s a bunker on that island, you’re our ride. That’s it,” Murphy said firmly. 

My ears perked up, “That bunker’s not stocked, Murphy. You won’t last five months, let alone five years.”

“We probably won’t. But at least we’ll survive the death wave,” he replied calmly. “We can’t all be essential personnel, or have a sister who’s queen of the Grounders.” He backed away and walked out the door, Bellamy hesitating behind him. 

“Raven is waiting,” I nudged him. “Let’s go.” 

~

I sat in the front of the supply truck next to Bellamy, who refused to drop the subject from earlier. “What are you doing?” He asked quietly. “Something isn’t right, I can tell.” 

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m here to get Raven, she’s family,” I assured him. 

“That’s not what I meant,” he replied. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing!” I protested. “We’re good. Nothing. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. It’s fine, Bellamy.” 

He scoffed, “I might believe that if you stopped saying ‘fine’ so much.”

I changed the subject, “You’re still mad at Clarke, aren’t you?”

“She was willing to let Octavia die yesterday, so a little, yeah,” he replied bluntly. 

“Bellamy, she still cares about you.”

Bellamy laughed, “Aiming a gun at me is a funny way of showing it.” 

I raised an eyebrow, “I could recall once having to say the same thing to you?” 

“That’s different. I didn’t pull the trigger,” he paused, knowing I had all the cards.

“Neither did she. Not when it mattered.”

He shot me a look, “I hate it when you do this.” 

“What? Be right?” I laughed. 

“I don’t hate that you’re right, I hate that you _know_ that you’re right, you’ve got that smug look on your face,” Bellamy groaned and I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s it. That one. That face.” 

“This is my regular face,” I pouted.

Bellamy shook his head, “No, _that’s_ your mock-hurt face. That’s the face you pull when you’re trying to make me feel bad.” 

“Is not,” I laughed, annoyed that he knew me so well. 

“No, it definitely is. Wait, this is completely off-topic. We’re supposed to be talking about whatever you’re hiding from me!” Bellamy sighed as he reverted back to the original conversation. 

I tutted, narrowing my eyes at him, “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

He turned to me, a small smile playing on his lips that was barely visible through the bulky radiation-proof helmet he was wearing. I couldn’t help but return it, his smile was infectious like that. I couldn’t quite tell if it bothered me or not. 

Rolling my eyes, I refocused my attention back onto the road, just in time to cry out in a warning as someone threw themselves in front of the truck. “Bellamy! Look out!” 

“Hold on!” he shouted as the body went under the truck, sending it off course and straight into a tree. I put my arms up to protect my face before realising I was in a suit, and I was perfectly fine. 

“Shit,” I looked around. “Should’ve let me drive. I’ve never hit a _person_ before.” 

“Until two seconds ago, neither had I.” Bellamy let out a breath, his hands tapping on the steering wheel as we watched smoke rise from the hood of the car. “We’re so screwed.”

“Hey! That’s my line. I know now isn’t the time…” I tried to hide my laughter, “But you insulted my driving, and then you crashed the fucking car. I find this hilarious. I’m never letting you live this down.” 

Bellamy raised an eyebrow, “First of all, he just jumped right out in front of us. Second of all, you’re right, now is _not_ the time.”

“He jumped out in front of us, he wanted to die. Only problem is, he screwed us over a little because now we have no truck…” I trailed off, putting two and two together. We were never going to get to Raven at this rate. 

“Stay here, I’m going to check the damage,” he nodded slowly, opening the truck door. 

“Okay,” I replied, but the word was barely out of my mouth before someone pulled him from the driver’s side and into the snow. “Fuck.” I kicked open the passenger door and dived out, running around through the back, “We’ve got company!” 

“Guys! Incoming!” Murphy shouted, and I was glad I hadn’t left all of the knives in my jacket on the inside of my suit. That would have been highly impractical. 

I pulled one out of my boot and another out of one of the suit's pockets, throwing it into the back for one of the others to use. “Guys, a little help?” 

“Get behind me,” Murphy urged Emori as Clarke grabbed the knife. 

“Get away from my friends, asshole!” I charged at the first person and tackled him into the snow, stabbed and punching wildly until he went limp. Murphy held onto the roof and tried kicking at them but one of them pulled his leg and he fell down, groaning. On the other side of the truck, I heard Bellamy struggle as he was thrown against the vehicle. Clarke climbed out the back and tried to take one of them down as I ran back to the front and felt under the front seat. 

“Lyss, what the hell are you doing? Get over here!” Murphy called frantically, trying to keep them at bay. 

“I’ve got you, I’m coming,” I reassured him, fumbling around until I reached the gun. As soon as it was in my hand and the rubber of my glove was securely around the trigger I swung a kick at one of the oncoming attackers which sent him to the ground. Another grabbed Emori and managed to pull her out of the van. I heard a tear as they did so and I grappled with one of them as he reached for the gun, shooting him before he had a hold on it. Something hit the other side of the truck and my eyes widened. _Bellamy._

Emori shouted out, “John! They want our suits! They want our suits!”

“Sons of bitches!” I cursed as one sneaked up behind me and threw me against the truck. “Just ask for fucks sake! Murder isn’t necessary!” 

Murphy scoffed, “That is the least likely thing I ever expected to come out of your mouth, Alyssa.”

“You’re one to talk!” I shot back, “Murphy! Gun!” He grabbed it from where it had fallen and shot one of the Grounders away from Emori as I wrestled with the man who had somehow ended up on top of me. 

“I haven’t got a clear shot!” he warned.

I laughed, “How about now?” I curled my knees up before pushing them upwards and firing the Grounder into the air for Murphy to shoot him, rolling out of the way just in time before he came down. 

Clarke punched someone away from Bellamy but they came back and with a vengeance. A horse whinnied nearby and I turned around just in time to duck as an arrow flew over my head and sank into the Grounder attacking Emori. She lay there gasping for breath and I realised I was right about the suit tear. 

The rider jumped into the commotion and began stabbing wildly with a sword. I recognised the white horse. Azgeda. Echo removed her hood, “There might be more of them. We should get going.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I raised an eyebrow. 

“I know about your bunker on the island,” she revealed. “I just saved your lives. I’m hoping you will return the favour.”

Bellamy looked around gravely, “Unless we can get another ride, no one’s making it to that island.”

“Good job we have another ride then,” I sighed in relief, “Might be time to give Monty a call, what do you think?”

Clarke helped Echo into the spare suit that we had brought for Raven and Bellamy tried to get a hold of Monty via the radio, which was temperamental at the best of times. Luckily enough, in the other rover, Monty was waiting for a call. “Look, Monty, I hate to ask you this but we broke down on the way to the island to get Raven. We need you to come reel us in.” 

“We’re on our way, tell us exactly where you are,” Monty’s voice was like music to my ears. Always one to save us, he was. 

Emori began to cough and I instantly felt horrified that with all the commotion I had forgotten about the tear in her suit. Murphy began to panic, looking around frantically for help. Clarke realised what had happened and rushed over, “You’ve been exposed.”

“How is that possible? She’s wearing a suit,” Murphy cursed.

I sighed frustratedly, “Neckline. Seam of her helmet. Happened during the fight, I think.” 

“Can you fix it?” Emori pleaded. 

“We just need a bit of tape, that’s all,” I wasn’t sure who Murphy was trying to reassure, Emori or himself, but either way it didn’t seem to be working. “It’ll be fine.” 

“We don’t have any tools or weapons…” Clarke trailed off. 

“I have one gun, it has two bullets,” I took inventory, “And four knives. I know, I’m low on supply. The rest are in my jacket.” 

Murphy grasped for ideas, “We give her the extra suit then.” 

“We don’t have another suit,” Bellamy warned him. 

“Yes, we do!” He turned to Echo. “Take it off, now.” 

She glared at him, “I saved your life.” 

“What were you gonna do if we didn’t get attacked, huh? You guys seriously think she was following us out of the kindness of her own heart? No, she was going to attack us the _second_ that we stopped. Give me the suit!” Murphy charged at her but Bellamy pulled him away.

“Murphy! Murphy, no. You cut that suit and it saves no one!” 

Murphy caved, like all the strength was sucked out of his body as he pleaded, “I’m not letting her die.”

There was a short silence before Clarke whispered, “Neither am I.” There was a small click as she removed her helmet. 

“Clarke, what the hell are you doing?” I warned.

“I have nightblood,” she replied. 

Bellamy shot her a look, “Untested nightblood!”

“We’re testing it now,” she said decisively. “Take off her helmet.” 

Emori gasped and coughed as Murphy pulled the helmet off and exchanged it with Clarke’s. The radio crackled into life and Bellamy held it up to answer once Monty was done.

“Bellamy, you there?” 

“I’m here. Northeast of Polis. And Monty? Drive fast.” 

~

Time ticked by while we waited for him to arrive, and we had eleven hours to get there and back— _n_ _ot enough time_ — before the death wave hits. I groaned, “How screwed are we?”

“We’ve missed the window. Continue on to the island, we won’t make it back,” Bellamy sighed. 

“Why don’t we just go to the island and make everyone nightbloods? Then all we’d have to do would be to ride out the death wave in the bunker and we’d be golden,” I suggested.

Emori shrugged, “It’s worth a shot, but we still don’t even know if the nightblood works or not.” 

“Clarke’s not dead yet?” Murphy supplied hopefully. 

“If nightblood works, we need to get Clarke to Polis and pull in as many people as we can before the death wave hits. If her mom can make us all nightbloods, we only need to stay down there until it passes,” Bellamy offered. “We can still save everyone.”

I moved to brush a piece of hair out of my face before realising it was inside the helmet and I couldn’t reach it. I tried blowing air out of the corner of my mouth to move it but no such luck. I groaned again, “Just not Raven.” 

The rover pulled up and I breathed a sigh of relief as Monty stepped out. His face flushed with concern, “We got here as fast as we could. Clarke, you’re exposed. Come on. Let’s get you into the rover.”

“No, Monty, I’m fine,” she protested. 

“I’ll grab the extra helmet,” Harper nodded, disappearing back into the vehicle. 

Murphy stood up, supporting Emori and helping her towards the rover. “Guys, come on. The planet ain’t getting any less irradiated.” 

“The helmet’s don’t match, I brought the whole suit,” Harper panted as she reappeared. 

“I got this,” Monty told her, “Help the others into the rover.” 

She nodded and put an arm under Echo to pull her inside. I heard a cough and thought it was Emori, but then realised that she was already in the rover which meant… I turned around, shocked to see Clarke coughing up blood. “So nightblood’s a dud,” I cursed.

“Clarke, you need to put on the suit,” Monty urged, “It was for Jasper. At least now it’ll do some good. You should put it on, Jasper would want you to. If we’re still gonna make it to the island—”

“We’re not going to the island,” Bellamy said slowly. 

I spun around, “To hell with that!”

“Yes, we are,” Clarke decided. “Nightblood doesn’t work.”

“We don’t know that yet,” he protested. “Luna got sick before she got better, so—” 

She sighed, “Even if you’re right, they won’t let us into the bunker if I’m still sick. It took days for Luna’s resistance to kick in, and by that time the death wave will already be here and all our friends will be dead. Are you okay with that?”

“You know I’m not,” Bellamy said, conflicted. “Clarke, unless I am missing something there is no other way for all of us to survive.”

Clarke gave him a hopeful smile, “What if there is?” 

“I don’t get it…” I sent her a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“Raven planned to go to space, right? She didn’t want to come to the bunker originally. What if we do that instead? We can go to the ring,” she revealed.

Bellamy frowned, “What about food? And the oxygen supply?”

“Monty, food?” I turned to him. 

“I’ve got a plan,” he resolved.

“It’s now or never then.” Laughing, I looked up at the sky and the red moon it held. “Shit, I never thought thinking about going _back_ to space.”

~

We arrived back nine hours before the death wave was due to hit. Taking off our helmets and greeting Raven with a smile. She seemed shocked to see us, but I don’t think she had lost faith that we would be coming. Not yet, anyway. Not completely. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked in disbelief.

“We’re not leaving you behind,” Bellamy descended the stairs and pulled her into a hug. 

She frowned, “But… there’s no time to get back?” 

“We’re not going back,” Clarke smiled, “We’re going up.”

“Oh, don’t look so surprised. It was all your crazy idea to begin with,” Murphy grinned.

Raven followed us as we looked at the rocket, “Space? Uh, we don’t have enough fuel to get down.” 

Harper shot her a smile, “Sounds like a five-year problem to me.” 

“You’re talking about the ring,” Raven realised.

“Seems like a shame to let a good rocket go waste,” Bellamy cocked his head at it.

“How do we live?” she asked. 

Clarke explained, “They left a water reclamator there, and we know that go-sci has an algae farm. Just get those two things up and running and we have food and water.”

“Algae salads and recycled urine,” Murphy pulled a face, “Sign me up.”

Emori rolled her eyes, “Better than dying.”

“Yeah, you say that now,” he raised an eyebrow. 

“Breathing’s important too. What’s the plan for oxygen?” Raven asked. 

Monty took over, “Based on what Murphy said about the lighthouse bunker, I’m guessing— make that praying— that there’s an oxygenator there. We take it with us, you hook it up. Bob’s your uncle.”

“You’re an engineer, Monty. You do know there’s about a thousand things wrong with that plan, right?” She folded her arms. 

“Yes,” he agreed. “And every one of them kills us. Of course, staying here will kill us too, so—”

I echoed Emori’s words, “Better than dying.” 

“Raven, we need you to get us off the ground before the death wave hits,” Bellamy said firmly. “What do you say? Can you do it?”

“What do I say?” She broke into a grin as she looked at the rocket, “I say that death wave can kiss my ass.” 

“We’re going back to the Ark,” Clarke confirmed.

  
 _Not all of us,_ I thought, looking at the two-seater rocket that Raven was about to convert into a nine-seater. _Not all of us._


	13. Praimfaya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What are you doing, Lyss?"
> 
> "Something stupid."

Bellamy disappeared into the office to radio Octavia and explain, and I offered to help move supplies from the main house to the lab, food and stuff that we’d need while the first algae culture was growing. It was a matter of single-digit hours until the death wave hit, and Raven was going to have to take off from a planet _on fire._ Something told me she wasn’t keen on that. She was willing, but definitely not keen. 

It took me half an hour, but I finally found the freezer with the nightblood bone marrow solution in. I took two of the syringes in case one of them broke, and I wrapped them up and put them in the bottom of one of the boxes that I was taking to be able to carry the supplies in. 

Once I arrived at the house, I set the box down and took my helmet back off. It was kind of hard to tell if the actual house was safe from the radiation, but there was no way of knowing and there was the risk that someone could walk in on me if I did this in the lab. Besides, even if I exposed myself to radiation now, I’d probably have to get worse before I got better if this nightblood was even going to work. 

Without a second thought, I plunged the vein into my arm near to where Clarke had. There was still a tiny scab on her arm and I’d noticed it earlier so I knew exactly where to go in. The liquid tingled as it spread through my veins and I prayed it would have enough time to take effect. 

“What are you doing, Lyss?” 

Murphy startled me and I yelped, dropping the syringe which shattered on impact with the marble floor. Thankfully, it was empty at the time. I turned around nervously. Emori had gone to help Raven so he was on his own, a box of supplies in his hands. He set the box down on the table and walked over. 

“Something stupid,” I replied. 

He sighed, “You’re always doing something stupid, Alyssa. What are you planning?” 

“If I tell you, there’s a large chance you’ll try to stop me,” I hesitated.

Murphy scoffed, “Who do you think I am? Bellamy Blake?” 

“I’m not going with you to space,” I finally said it. 

He blinked. “What?”

“I’m not coming. Raven said the ship can barely handle all of us, and she’s struggling as it is. I won’t be the reason this plan fails. I’m not coming,” I told him firmly. 

“But you have to come,” he took his helmet off and I shot him a look of concern.

“Why?”

“You just— you just do,” he rubbed his nose. “You just do.” 

“Murphy, I can’t.” 

He closed the space between us and wrapped me in a hug, startling me. I was more than slightly taken aback. The least likely person I’d expected that from was Murphy. I hugged him back, surprised at how far we’d come. Hell, we’d gone from trying to kill each other at almost every opportunity, to surprisingly good friends. He was even the one who originally started giving me the nickname Lyss, it caught on after that but none of the others realised. “This is weird for us, right?” He mumbled into my hair. 

“Very,” I laughed.

“Do you want to stop?”

I squeezed him harder, “No.” 

Once he released me, Murphy paused to tuck the strand of hair that had been bothering me out of my face and behind my ear. “Two things. One, there’s lots of things in this house that are really quick to cook, there’s even some noodle things that are just add water, so just grab a load of them before the death wave and figure it out as you go. Two, what are you going to tell the others?” 

Sighing, I turned away sheepishly, “I’m… not going to tell them.” 

“What? Okay, now _that’s_ a terrible idea. Clarke will never let you, and Bellamy will kill me if he finds out I knew. And none of them would ever be okay with this— except maybe Echo,” he warned. 

“When you’re up there, could you give Bellamy a message for me? Could… could you tell him I’m sorry for not telling him, and that I wanted to do this?” I bit my lip. “And… could you tell him ‘catch you later’ with cringey finger guns, like this?” I gave him a poor demonstration and he raised an eyebrow. “He’ll… he’ll understand.” 

Murphy raised an eyebrow, “Tell him yourself when we see you in five years.” 

I tapped his arm, “I’m serious. And put that damn helmet back on.” 

“I know,” he sighed.

“Hey,” I pulled him in for another quick hug. “When you get back, don’t be a stranger, okay?” 

“Course not. We’ve been through way too much for that,” he stepped back and secured the helmet. “We _will_ meet again. Now, I’m going to go back with supplies, you’re going to grab some supplies of your own, and then you’re going to meet the rest of us in the lab and pretend nothing just happened.” 

I nodded, “Good plan. See you in ten.” I was surprised at how level-headed he was being, it was almost as if— 

I was cut off by the sound of glass shattering outside. I frowned, stepping out of the room to see a vase on the side in pieces, and the knife which I had given to Murphy in the truck laying next to it. Yeah, I spoke too soon. I picked up the knife and filled my pockets with random packets of food with use-by dates for a hundred years ago that were seemingly still worth eating. I mean, it’s dried pasta in a packet, that shit is practically immortal. I also picked up a pack of playing cards. Five years is a _long_ time.

After I was stocked, I quickly made my way back to the lab with extra supplies for the group as well. Echo shot me a confused look when she saw a pasta-packet shaped bulge coming from my inside pocket but I raised an eyebrow in response, unconcerned, and she looked away. 

Murphy called over as he watched the monitors intently and we gathered around him and Raven in time to watch Praimfaya decimate Polis. “It’s two hundred and ten miles from Polis to the island. According to what was our last drone, the wave is accelerating. If we’re not off the ground at least twenty minutes before it hits, the electromagnetic charge in the pyroclastic cloud will shut down the rocket’s avionics, meaning it won’t fly.” Raven checked the computer briefly before looking up again, “That gives us ninety minutes to run a six-hour preflight check, retrieve the oxygen generator from the lighthouse, turn a cockpit designed for two into one that can carry nine, and load the cargo hold with enough food to keep us from starving in space while we wait for the algae to bloom.” 

Murphy laughed nervously, “I thought you said it was gonna be hard?” 

“That’s not even the hard part,” she continued, “Becca designed her rocket to dock with Polaris. Not the Ark. That means I have to pilot it into the hangar bay on the ring.”

Harper frowned, “What’s so hard about that?” 

“That’s not the hard part either.” 

I groaned, “What _is_ the hard part, Raven?” 

“Assuming we blast off in time, CO2 scrubbers on a two-person rocket won’t support nine of us,” she said finally.

“So we use supplemental oxygen,” Clarke suggested. 

Monty realised the issue, “Our tanks only hold an hour of air.”

“Correct. We’ll have one hour to get into orbit, land in the hangar bay, and fire up the life-support system using an oxygen generator built to supply a lighthouse bachelor bad,” Raven finished.

Murphy raised an eyebrow, “You suck at talking people into things. You know that, right?” 

“Anyone here still need to be talked into this?” Bellamy shot him a look, but Murphy turned his attention to me as no one made any form of suggestion otherwise. “Good. Now we know the many ways we might die today, why don’t you tell us what we have to do to live.” 

I laughed, “Shit. This is why he’s the one who does the motivational speeches.” Raven tapped on the keys frantically which brought up a large countdown clock. Gotta love that dramatic style. An hour and a half. All of this, an hour and a half. “Well,” I sighed, “Let's get a bloody move on then. Who’s doing what?” 

“We need two people to get the oxygen generator, I’ll need help reconfiguring the rocket seating and we need to work out the kinks in the food plan,” Raven decided.

“I vote food, I’ll help with food. I just came back with a box full of it,” I grinned, gesturing to the box I’d brought down with me that wasn’t for myself. Clarke nodded and gestured to the office and Bellamy followed us. She sat down next to the computer and began to make a plan while I watched from over her shoulder, frequently sparing glances to Bellamy as he watched the others over the balcony area. 

“Grounders in space,” he laughed, but it was without humour. “It’s an oxymoron.”

I walked over, “Unsurprising bit of teamwork. I guess they’re willing to hedge their chances of survival on living in space, even though they’ve never been. Kind of like when we came down here. I wonder what would’ve happened if we hadn’t been sent down. Everybody would’ve died on the Ark, probably. I guess it was their only choice.” I raised an eyebrow, “Only choice, also an oxymoron. On an unrelated note, I can’t believe you drove into a tree earlier.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said you were never gonna let me live that down, were you?” He rolled his eyes, smiling. 

“Why would I? Since I’ve never hit anything living with my car, apart from at least three different trees, I am _clearly_ the superior driver,” I smirked. 

“I didn’t hit the guy, he hit the car,” Bellamy protested. 

I scoffed, “Same difference.”

“Also an oxymoron,” he laughed. “Listen—”

I shrugged, “I’m going to take over from Clarke in marking up how much food we’ll need. Please tell her everything’s going to be fine?”

“Everything _is_ going to be fine, Lyss.”

“You’re good at it already,” I laughed as I walked over to Clarke. “Take a break. Seriously. I got this,” I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she nodded. “Do something, _anything_ else.” 

She stood up, “You’re right.”

Frowning, I brushed a piece of hair out of her face, “You okay?” 

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she sighed back.

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to,” I smiled sympathetically. 

“I’m fine, I promise,” she reassured me before walking out of the glass doors. I sighed, nightblood might work, or it might not. Right now, it seemed to be leaning towards the latter but I still had hope. Somehow, I still had hope. 

I sat down in the seat she had been in and began to run the water numbers, but less than two minutes later Raven cried out, cursing and muttering as sparks flew from the rocket. I ran down the stairs, “Raven, you alright? What happened?” 

Bellamy climbed into the rocket, “What’s happening? Raven?”

“We’re pushing too hard,” she explained. “Not enough time. Computer, systems check.”

The computer began to reel off the list, “Launch system: optimal. Navigation system: optimal. Life-support system: assessing damage.”

“It’s okay,” Raven said calmly, “We’re using supplemental anyway.”

“All life-support systems are offline,” the computer announced loudly. “Landing system: optimal. Communication system: assessing damage. All communication systems are offline.” 

Raven took a deep breath, “Recommend repair options for communication systems?”

“Who cares? There’s no one to talk to anyway,” Harper asked, confused.

“Quiet,” Raven hissed as she waited for the computer’s response.

“Damage is beyond repair. Total system replacement required.”

Bellamy looked at her worriedly, “Talk to us Raven.”

Raven glanced at the fried panel behind her, “We’re not going anywhere. Computer, terminate launch sequence.” She climbed out of the rocket and marched away from it, picking up a tablet. “It’s simple. There’s no power in the ring. Two minutes ago, I thought it wasn’t a problem because I could activate it remotely.”

“Over the rocket’s comm system,” Clarke realised. 

“So we turn the power on from the inside,” Bellamy said firmly. 

Raven swore, “We can’t get inside. That’s the point. Without power, we can’t even open the hangar door.” 

“How do we fix it?” I resolved to find a way around this. “There has to be another way to get the signal to the ring to turn the power on.” 

“Raven, think. You’ve solved bigger problems than this before,” Clarke told her. 

“Oh yeah, not in fifty-three minutes. It’s over, Clarke! It’s over,” she became more and more frustrated. “You know, maybe if I still had A.L.I.E’s code eating away my brain, I could figure it out. I’m not smart enough myself.”

I looked at her, considerably unimpressed. “Are you kidding me? You don’t need A.L.I.E, Raven. You never did.”

Bellamy sat down next to her, “Raven, you can do this. Yes, you can. Lyss is right, how many times have you saved our asses before you ever even heard of A.L.I.E?”

“Too many to count,” she replied quietly. 

“You’re damn right. We don’t need A.L.I.E on the Ark. We need you,” he told her. Raven blinked, slowly coming to a realisation. “What?” Bellamy asked. 

“A.L.I.E was on the Ark,” she whispered, standing upright. “A.L.I.E was on the Ark! I was right there, so close to the kill switch, but she got away by transmitting herself to the ring!”

Emori caught on, “Using the pod in the temple.”

“Yes! If she can do it, so can we,” Raven decided. 

“We’ll never make it to Polis on time…” warned Clarke. “And the radios are dead.”

Raven grinned, “We have something better than radios— the satellite tower.” She turned around, barking orders. “You three, back in the cockpit. Finish those restraints. You three, helmets on. You’re with me.”

“Reyes strikes again,” I laughed. “What do you need?”

She put a hand up to silence me, “Computer. Resume launch sequence,” before turning back to us. “Okay everybody, let’s go.” Raven led us out of the lab and pointed to an upright structure that was barely visible between the low lying clouds. “The tower’s less than a mile away. All we have to do is plug this into the junction box at the base of the tower. Sat-Star-One is the name of the dish.” 

“Sat-Star-One,” Clarke repeated.

“Sat-Star-One,” Raven confirmed. “Everything is set. Once the tablet is connected, the dish will align itself with the Ark. The graphic will flash green and that’s how you know it’s locked on. When it says ‘send’, you hit send, and the power-up signal will turn on the lights. That’s it. Are there any questions?”

“Yeah, why are you smiling?” Clarke asked Raven, confused.

Raven’s grin got wider, “Because, without comms, even with the power on, we still can’t open the hangar bay door from inside the rocket.” 

“You still get to take your spacewalk,” I nodded, realising why she was so happy. 

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted movement, turning around to see Murphy trying to carry the oxygen generator by himself. Bellamy saw him, “Murphy? Hey, Murphy!” He ran towards him and grabbed it as he collapsed. “Murphy, where’s Monty?” 

“He’s in trouble,” Murphy panted, “He had to expose his hands. He passed out. Look, if we go back now we can get to him.” The rest of us shared a look, causing Murphy to roll his eyes. “You can be impressed with me later, we got to go.” 

“Aligning the dish is a one-person job,” Raven said firmly, “Clarke can handle it. Harper will help me with the generator, you guys go to Monty.” 

“Bellamy—” Clarke called to him, but she was cut off. 

“Clarke, if this is one of those moments where you tell me to use my head—” 

She cut him off this time, “No. I was just gonna say, hurry.” 

“You too,” he nodded. “Lead the way. Let’s go.” 

Bellamy and I followed Murphy at a run back down to find Monty. We had less than fifteen minutes left on the clock, and the time was rapidly decreasing. “There he is!” I called, spotting Monty leaning against a tree not too far away as we got deeper into the forest. 

“I got you,” Bellamy told him, catching him before he could fall, “I got you.” 

“Of course he gets the hug,” Murphy remarked, rolling his eyes. 

Monty seemed surprised, “You chose the machine?” 

“Yeah, I did. It’s back at the lab, which is where we need—” he got cut short as Monty grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. 

“I may not hate you anymore,” Monty told him quietly. 

“Give it time,” Bellamy laughed, “Come on. We need to go.” He slung one of Monty’s arms over his shoulder and Murphy grabbed the other. I spotted them from behind in case he tripped and prayed that Clarke had gotten to the tower. I checked my wrist, eleven minutes. It’s a ten-minute run back to the lab and she was nowhere in sight. 

“Where’s Clarke?” I hissed.

“She’ll be okay,” Murphy reassured me. “She’s Clarke.” 

We rushed towards the door and I turned back one last time to look at the tower. Something was moving on it. _She wouldn’t. She couldn’t be. She…_ fuck _._ “I’m going after Clarke.” 

Bellamy grabbed me, “Like hell you are. Clarke can take care of herself.” 

Murphy realised what I was thinking, “And so can Lyss. You better run.” 

I nodded, “I will.” Before I set off, I paused, looking back at Bellamy and the entrance to Becca’s lab. “Catch you later,” I whispered with a half-smile, cringey finger guns and all. Before he had time to respond, or realise what I meant, I was running as fast as I could towards the tower. 

_Five minutes._ Five minutes until Raven’s supposed to launch. Clarke should be on her way back, but I knew the most direct route to the tower and I hadn’t seen or passed her yet. We could both die out here, but that was a risk I was willing to take. Clarke is family. 

I paused as something exploded behind me, but as I turned around I realised it wasn’t exactly an explosion, it was a launch. _They had gone._ I smiled, glad that they had managed to get out in time. “May we meet again,” I whispered before setting off again, even faster than before. 

The wind whipped around me as I tried to get to the tower, but it was too far away. Still no sign of Clarke. If I turned back now I could maybe get back to the lab in time. No. Not without Clarke. I tripped, landing on the ground and tearing my glove. I held a hand over it, wincing as the radiation burnt my skin.

I saw her running towards me, one eye wide in shock at seeing me, and the other obscured by her hand which she held over her helmet as she ran. I grabbed her and we both tore across the snow towards the lab, pushing the door open as the death wave practically nipped at our heels. We ran inside, skidding on the floor as Clarke tore her helmet off, her face covered in radiation burns as she coughed up black blood. Sighing, I tore off my own helmet and caught her as she collapsed, lowering her down to the floor as the power shut down, leaving us both in darkness. 

I pulled out a knife and tore my gloves off, dragging it over the palm of my hand and wincing. There was still a faint light from a flashlight on the side that had turned on when it hit the floor, but the battery was almost dead and it was slowly dying. I held it up to my hand and watched as the cut dripped black blood. _We got this, right?_ I coughed, wiping the blood from my mouth. 

_Right?_


End file.
